Michael Terrance Cook (born 23 April 1962) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n professional rugby union international, who also spent time playing professional rugby league.

Biography

Born in Caulfield, Cook grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, where his family moved when he was around pre-school age;Brave and Game Biographies : Michael Terrance Cook
Cook went to school at St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace, where he played inside centre in his age group teams. Cook played 88 matches for the school, including 24 for the First XV alongside future Australian players Michael Lynagh and Damian Frawley during Terrace's five-year premiership run between 1977 and 1981. In 1979 Cook was selected in the Australian Schools team and played 2 schoolboys Tests against England Schools at Chatswood Oval in Sydney on 1 September 1979 and at Ballymore in Brisbane on 9 September 1979. In 1980, Cook played for the Queensland representative team, which, since 1984, at 22 years, he represented also at international level: he played some matches for the state team, like the matches against the national teams of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 1986, Cook debuted for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

in a test match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

: it was the first of 11 test matches until 1988, including the only match, played in the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

, won against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

42-23 in the first group, during which Cook broke an arm, thus being unavailable for the rest of the competition. In 1989 Cook became a professional player and moved to

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

, for

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

; in three seasons of the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

, he collected 16 caps with two tries. Currently, he works as a teacher in the

Marist College Ashgrove , motto_translation = Act Courageously , location = Ashgrove, Brisbane, Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Queensland , pushpin_ima ...

Notes

External links

Michael Cook international stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Michael 1962 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Dual-code rugby internationals Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Brisbane