Mel Cooke
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Melville Lance Cooke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
30 May 1934 Christchurch, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died |
5 September 2013 (aged 79) Christchurch, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 86 kg (13 st 8 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Scrum-half, Loose forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: RLP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Melville Lance Cooke[1] (30 May 1934 – 5 September 2013) was a New Zealand 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]
Cooke died in September 2013, aged 79.[6]
References
- ↑ COOKE, Melville Lance 1959 - 64 - Kiwi #384 nzleague.co.nz
- 1 2 3 4 Significant Results in Canterbury Rugby League 1912-2009
- ↑ Smith, Tony (30 May 2009). "Nothing better than bettering Auckland". The Press. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- ↑ Legends of League NZRL
- ↑ "Graham is best in 100 years". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- ↑ League world mourns Kiwi legend nzherald.co.nz, 15 September 2013