Mal Cochrane

Mal Cochrane
Personal information
Full name Malcolm Cochrane
Nickname Mighty Mal
Born 3 April 1961 (1961-04-03) (age 50)
Taree, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position Hooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1982–1990 Manly-Warringah 118 19 167 0 410
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1987 Country Origin 1 0 3 0 6

Mal Cochrane (born 3 April 1961 in Taree, New South Wales) is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league player for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Cochrane primarily played at hooker.

Contents

Playing career

Junior career

Cochrane played hockey and cricket as well as rugby league while at school and represented his state in all three sports at schoolboy level.[1]

Cochrane captained the Australian Schoolboys tour of England and France in 1979, scoring twelve tries and seven goals. He was also rated the best forward of the tour after playing at hooker, lock and prop.

Senior career

Although he originally discussed a career with Canterbury-Bankstown following the 1979 tour, he signed with Manly-Warringah and his childhood hero, Bob Fulton.[1]

Cochrane played in one grand final with Manly, the 1987 Grand Final against Canberra. Manly won the match 18–8 but after receiving a knee to the head in the first half, Cochrane remembered nothing of the game. Following the grand final victory he travelled with Manly to England for the 1987 World Club Challenge against their champions, Wigan.

Injuries in the last years of Cochrane's first-grade career reduced his appearances to only 28 games over the final three seasons. Cochrane retired from first-grade at the end of the 1990 season and spent a year playing for the Young Cherrypickers in the Group 9 competition.[1]

Post-playing career

In 1996, Cochrane coached the Australian Aboriginal rugby league team on their tour of Great Britain.[1]

A policeman for ten years, Cochrane now works for the Public Service Association of New South Wales, assisting Indigenous Australians in the workplace and is a member of the National Rugby League Judiciary.[1][2]

Accolades

Cochrane was the first hooker to win the Rothmans Medal (awarded from 1968 to 1996), in 1986. Subsequent winners in that position include Danny Buderus and Cameron Smith. He was also awarded the Dally M Hooker of the Year in 1986–1987.

In August, 2008, Cochrane was named at hooker in the Indigenous Team of the Century.[3]

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Tony Adams. "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week (Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia) (6 August 2008): pgs 30–31. 
  2. ^ Jim Marr (2003-07-01). "Making the Hard Yards". Workers Online. http://workers.labor.net.au/features/200307/b_tradeunion_mal.html. Retrieved 2008-08-10. 
  3. ^ "Modern stars join greats in Indigenous Team of Century". ABC News. 2008-08-09. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/09/2329969.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-10. 

External links