{"id":512071,"date":"2026-03-01T16:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512071\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:04:26","slug":"damien-cooks-emotional-post-match-interview-lara-pitt-fox-league-dragons-lose-to-bulldogs-golden-point-highlights-news-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512071\/","title":{"rendered":"Damien Cook\u2019s emotional post-match interview, Lara Pitt, Fox League, Dragons lose to Bulldogs, golden point, highlights, news, videos"},"content":{"rendered":"

An emotional Damien Cook has declared the Dragons aren\u2019t prepared to make up the numbers this season \u2014 they are \u201chere to win\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shane Flanagan\u2019s side took the Bulldogs, a finalist from last season, to golden point in the Las Vegas season-opening games <\/a>and came desperately close to securing an upset victory.<\/p>\n

During the week, Flanagan came under fire for telling Channel 9\u2019s Danny Weidler that \u201cwe aren\u2019t going to win the comp this year\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Damien Cook’s emotional post-match interview.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Clearly Cook wasn\u2019t on the same page, cutting an upset figure after his side\u2019s loss \u2014 as he claimed there\u2019s a new Red V on the block when asked about how close they came to a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one thing we can be proud of, but we didn\u2019t come here to compete with the competition, we came here to win,\u201d Cook said post-match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a new Dragons team this year, and we almost came away with the perfect week… that would have been the cherry on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t to be, so we just have to keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciro praises Crichtons clutch FG! | 07:57<\/p>\n

He also paid tribute to the Bulldogs and Stephen Crichton, who kicked the matchwinning field goal to break the Dragons\u2019 collective hearts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words at the moment, dying seconds for Critta (Crichton) to get the field goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood on him, good on the Bulldogs too. It has been a great week over here, we put a lot into it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve trained really well, had a good pre-season, wanted to get the season off to a great start.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle bit hard looking at it now, I\u2019m sure coach will be happy with a lot of things, there\u2019s always things you can work on.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n

Bulldogs take out Golden Point thriller | 03:37<\/p>\n

\u201cSome great signs there, but it\u2019s just heartbreaking losing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Red V, both Valentine Holmes and Daniel Atkinson had attempts at a golden point field goal.<\/p>\n

Holmes\u2019 attempts in particular were from long range, with one effort coming from close to the halfway line.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our guy, we know that and we were probably just stretching him a little too far there,\u201d Cook explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave it a hell of a crack, he\u2019s great in those big moments and he only just missed it. That\u2019s not him at all, he just almost gave us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An emotional Damien Cook has declared the Dragons aren\u2019t prepared to make up the numbers this season \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-512071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}