Mel Cooke
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Melville Lance Cooke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (13 st 8 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Scrum-half, Loose forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: RLP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Melville Lance Cooke[1] (born 30 May 1934 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a former rugby league player who represented his country twenty three times between 1959 and 1964.
Playing career
Cooke was a member of the Hornby club in the Canterbury Rugby League competition. He was the player-coach when Hornby made the national tournament finals in 1962 and 1964 and when they won the Thacker Shield in 1964.[2]
A Canterbury and South Island representative, in 1962 Cooke was captain of the first Canterbury team to win the Northern Union Cup from Auckland at the Addington Showgrounds.[3]
Cooke played in 23 games for New Zealand, including at the 1960 World Cup. He played in eighteen consecutive tests between 1960 and 1964.[2] Cooke was the captain for the last three seasons before accepting a player-coach position in Canberra in 1965.
Coaching career
Cooke took up a player-coach position with Monaro in 1965. While there he captained the side against the 1966 British Lions and was selected for New South Wales Country.[2]
In 1969 Cooke returned to Hornby as coach. He was a Canterbury selector and coach in 1971 and again coached Hornby in 1978.[2]
Legacy
Cooke was named one of New Zealand Rugby League's "Legends of League" in 1995.[4]
In 2009 Cooke was named in the NZRL's team of the century.[5]
References
- ^ COOKE, Melville Lance 1959 - 64 - Kiwi #384 nzleague.co.nz
- ^ a b c d Significant Results in Canterbury Rugby League 1912-2009
- ^ Nothing better than bettering Auckland The Press, 30 May 2009
- ^ Legends of League NZRL
- ^ Graham is best in 100 years Sunday Star-Times, 1 January 2009
- New Zealand rugby league players
- Canterbury rugby league team players
- New Zealand national rugby league team players
- Living people
- New Zealand rugby league coaches
- New South Wales Country rugby league team players
- Canterbury rugby league team coaches
- Hornby Panthers players
- 1934 births
- New Zealand national rugby league team captains
- South Island rugby league team players