Matty: my star pupil can become king Cronk

COOPER Cronk's mentor, Matthew Johns, says the biggest mistake an opponent could make about the Melbourne No.7 is to think he is not a real halfback. That he is someone Storm coach Craig Bellamy just put there because he had nobody else.

Melbourne had to find a new halfback when Matt Orford left for Manly at the end of last season, but the player Bellamy chose to fill the hole was - according to former star five-eighth Johns - a halfback waiting to happen.

"No-one is born to play halfback," Johns told the Herald yesterday. "They can have the ability to take on a job like that, but they won't succeed at it unless they get the right footballing education and they're prepared to learn.

"Andrew [Johns, the Newcastle halfback] and I had a great footballing education. We had the right people teaching us and being prepared to spend a lot of time with us.

"Cooper's opportunity to learn just came a little later than it might have. He had played in a number of positions before this year, but he's a genuine halfback, don't worry about that. He's no fill-in. He's the right sort of player to steer Melbourne around the park in a grand final and he might be playing for Australia in a couple of weeks."

Bellamy rang Johns before the preparation for this season began and asked him if he would tutor Cronk. Johns, who has a yearning to be a head coach but whose thriving television career limits him to one-on-one specialised coaching, jumped at the chance.

"I enjoy it and it's also something I feel I should do, if I can, because I remember how lucky I was when I was a young footballer," Johns said.

"During the off-season, I'd take Cooper down to the park and talk him through the things you've got to look for in games. I'd work through sets of six with him and encourage him to keep the running thrust going in his game and not be caught flat-footed. The best halfbacks are not just good at directing the play, they're good runners with the football as well, and I saw straight away that Cooper had a good running edge to his game. He just had to get his head around pushing the team around the park.

"He's solidly built, with a low centre of gravity, so he can move around in traffic among the opposition forwards without fear. One of the advantages he's got is his courage. He's willing to take a shot in a tackle to try to make something happen.

"I could see he had the ability to be a halfback and he took to it really quickly. His form in the pre-season trials was excellent. He scored a great try from a long way out in one of those games and I knew then that he was on his way."

Johns has worked with Cronk all season, in person whenever possible and by discussing things over the phone. Cronk says having Johns in his corner has been a blessing.

"He has given me a tremendous insight into the game," Cronk says. "How it unfolds on the field, how it evolves. You can have all the skill and creativity in the world, but if you can't read a game of footy, it doesn't matter. That's what Matt has taught me to do."

Johns joined Cronk and the rest of the Melbourne players for dinner in Sydney on Wednesday night and the pair will talk again before the match.

"I don't think I'll have to say much," Johns said. "Cooper is well prepared. I think the best advice I can give him at this late stage is to enjoy himself."