Jack's versatility proves a vital cog in Newcastle wheel

This was not the sort of season Jack Cogger envisaged when he returned to Newcastle last November after helping Penrith win their third premiership on the trot.

Well, he imagined the ending.

Helping lead the club where he began his NRL career into the top eight.

He just pictured a different pathway.

But, considering the twists and turns his career has taken since he made his NRL debut for Newcastle as an 18-year-old back in 2016, it has hardly been a surprise.

Cogger's tactical kicking and steady hand helped steer the Knights to a 14-6 victory over the Dolphins at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday, securing eighth spot and an elimination final against the Cowboys in Townsville.

"It was the finals come early," Cogger told NRL.com.

"Win and go on, losers are done, so for us it was like a final, plus there was the extra emotion being Old Boys' Day, and we always get good crowds here.

"But they're the games you want to play in, the ones that mean stuff, and we came out on top."

After starting his homecoming season on the bench back in March, Cogger has bounced between the NRL and NSW Cup this year.

The 27-year-old Toukley Hawks junior rotated with Jackson Hastings, Tyson Gamble, Phoenix Crossland and Will Pryce, as coach Adam O'Brien strived to settle on a regular halves pairing.

Selected at five-eighth alongside Crossland at halfback, Cogger was recalled after Newcastle's 19-18 golden point loss to the Sharks at PointsBet Stadium on August 18 and has not looked back.

Cogger and Crossland have since steered the Knights to wins against the Rabbitohs, Titans and Dolphins to surge past the other fringe dwellers and snatch the last finals berth.

"Six has just been the number on the back the last few weeks," Cogger said.

"I've probably played more seven than I have earlier in the year, so I think that helps, but I've got a good relationship with both Phoenix and Tyson off the field, and I think that helps when we go into the games, pending what that combination looks like.

"Tyson came on late [against the Dolphins], but we know our role, we're all team-first players, and we're going to do what's right for the team to make sure that we get the win.

"That's the mentality we've had going into the last three weeks, it seems to be working, and we'll be doing that again next week to live to fight another day, hopefully."

O'Brien believed Cogger's kicking to instruction and overall game management set up Newcastle's gritty defensive effort against the Dolphins.

"I think earlier in the year, we copped a fair bit of flak for not contesting kicks but we've identified that we kicked to set up our defensive system," O'Brien explained.

"If you look at our first five sets compared to what the Dolphins faced last week [against Brisbane] in their first five sets, when there were a lot of fast transitions, we didn't allow that.

"And Coggs plays a big part in that, making sure we're kicking and landing on them, and there's no sort of hairy moments on that first play, because it wrecks your whole set.

"We're not making any apologies for that. It might be boring at times, but it wins for us.

"He's played a huge part in that, along with Phoenix, getting us to really good launch pads for kicks, and these guys are repaying that with a good defensive set, so I'm really happy for Coggs."

Cogger had hoped to hit the ground running when he rejoined the Knights this year.

He played a vital role 29-minute cameo for Penrith in last year's decider after Jarome Luai left the field injured, helped Huddersfield reach the Challenge Cup final the previous year, and had developed his game during two years at the Bulldogs (2019-20) and his previous three seasons at the Knights (2016-18).

But he did not lock down one of the playmaker positions in his previous two stints this year, as the Knights struggled for consistency, so he is making the most of this late-season opportunity to shine.

"It didn't exactly go to plan for me this season, but that was the game I wanted to play in from the start -- full crowd, semi-final atmosphere, and we got there in the end," Cogger said.

"So that's exactly where I want to be -- playing in the big games when they matter.

"The path hasn't been exactly what I wanted. You want to play every game, and it hasn't been that way, but as I said at the start of the year, this is what I said I wanted to do.

"I want to play semi-finals from where I'm from, I'm from Newcastle, and make my team-mates and all our supporters proud.

"There were some tough times at the start of our careers, for a few of us who are still here.

"They've tasted semi-final football playing for the Knights before, but I never did in my first stint here, so I'm really excited about it.

"This is where I want Newcastle to be playing every year, and this is a step in the right direction in my first year back."

Knights captain Kalyn Ponga feels comfortable having Cogger, Crossland and dummy-half Jayden Brailey directing play around the rucks.

"I think our spine, collectively, we just know our job," Ponga said.

"I think we know what our footy looks like, what wins for us, I think our connection is really good, we believe in each other, and we have faith in each other.

"We're probably not the flashiest, but we do our job, and we get the job done, I guess.

"We have done the last few weeks, and process-wise we've been pretty good. We probably haven't had the results over the last six, seven weeks, but I think we've nailed the process."

Cogger said the Knights never gave up hope of playing finals, despite being written off on multiple occasions during the season, most recently after their loss to Cronulla.

They expect to be dismissed as pretenders again this week as they prepare for the trip to Townsville to tackle the fifth-placed Cowboys, but he won't be discouraged.

"Everyone wants to win. Whether other results go your way, you still want to win football games," Cogger said.

"We probably threw that Cronulla game away a little bit, going into golden point, but we said let's just win our next three and hopefully things go our way.

"In the following two weeks, some other teams were losing and we've won our last three and it turned into semi-finals come early for us."