In the past, Jack Cole felt like he was only borrowing the Penrith No.6 jersey. This time he intends to keep it.
Cole has been picked as Nathan Cleary’s halves partner for the season-opener at Allegiant Stadium, getting the first crack at replacing Wests Tigers recruit Jarome Luai. All 10 of Cole’s NRL appearances to date have come when he is replacing either Cleary or Luai, but he no longer wants to be a stop-gap measure.
“I’m going to try to stay there,” Cole said.
“That’s the mindset you’ve gotta have. You can’t just be hoping to play one week and then hoping you’re playing the next week. You’ve gotta want to stay there, so I’m going to try to do that.”
After previously trying to mimic the style of the player he was replacing, Cole has an opportunity to make his own mark.
“Before, with the game style we were playing, I was trying to play the role of who I was coming in for a bit more so.
Jack Cole at a Panthers training session in Vegas.Credit: Getty Images
“This will help in the sense of me just being able to be my own sort of player.
“I’m not trying to be what Jarome was like. I like watching him and I try to take little bits of his game and put them into mine. I’ve still got a little bit to work on, but I know that I’m going back myself.”
It had appeared that Parramatta pick-up Blaize Talagi was earmarked for the five-eighth role following Luai’s departure. However, Talagi has been recovering from a shoulder injury, giving Cole the first chance to cement himself in the position.
“It didn’t really bother me too much,” Cole said of Talagi’s signing.
“I feel like when there’s competition, I do better. We get along really well, so I think it’s been good for the team, it’s been good for me and I’m sure it’s been good for him as well.
“No one really knew who was going to be playing that spot until maybe two weeks ago, when I started training there a bit more consistently.
“At the start of preseason a few of us got sat down and were basically told there’s a position there, you just compete for it.
“It’s been really good, I’ve become close with Blaize and we’ve been training against each other. It’s been really awesome and it’s all healthy competition too, which is good.”
Talagi has the ability to play anywhere in the backline, meaning he and Cole could soon be playing alongside each other.
“I don’t think it really matters how many positions other people can play,” Cole said.
“I’m just focusing on this one position at the moment. I’m sure he can focus on whatever position, but at the end of the day I want to stay at six.”
Cole said the opportunity to be the long-term halves partner for Cleary, voted by a panel of Herald judges as the best player in the game for the second year in a row, was a dream scenario.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but it is pretty crazy when you say it like that.
“I’m just looking to take it all in, try to get better each week and work on what I need to work on and go from there.”
The Herald’s travel expenses to Las Vegas have been partly funded by the NRL.
