After captaining the Cowboys to NRL Auckland Nines glory in February, Cooper’s season was rolling along nicely until round 10 when, just one game short of playing 100 matches for the Cowboys, he suffered a painful dislocated hip against the Roosters.
The injury kept him out until round 21 against the Titans – an impressive return match that saw him score a try and run for a season-high 155 metres.
Cooper’s old left-side combination with Johnathan Thurston was back to its best by finals time and the back-rower scored a double in the week one victory against Brisbane to again show that he's a strong attacking option for NQ.
In defence, Cooper’s 30 tackles per-game average was third-highest amongst all Cowboys.
At the end of the year, he was chosen in the Kangaroos’ train-on squad for the second straight season, although this time he missed out on Prime Minister’s XIII selection.
WHAT’S IN STORE IN 2015:
After passing the century of matches for North Queensland in 2014, Coops is now closing in on 200 overall for his NRL career.
He will start the year on 183 matches and as a key member of the Cowboys’ forward pack.
His first target for 2015 is likely to be the defence of the Nines title and there’s always the chance he could force his way into State of Origin contention for Queensland.
