Cooper Cronk Shatters The 300 Game Milestone On His Way To Another Big Dance With The Melbourne Storm

It was a Saturday night to remember for the Melbourne Storm's titanium-built little man Cooper Cronk. The 32 year old Storm stalwart, halfback and Queensland State Of Origin great broke two of the game's toughest milestones in his side's preliminary final win over the Canberra Raiders.

On the same night that Cronk steered his team to the NRL grand final he also played in his 300th game for the Storm. He is just the 11th player in the game's history to break the 300 milestone with one club, and only the 25th player (out of a total of 9300 players) to reach the milestone at all.

You only need to look at Cronk's nose to see the price he's paid. Rugby league is arguably the most physically abusive game on the planet and Cronk has spent his entire career as the smallest guy on a condensed field full of 100-plus kilo brutes.

He reached the milestone in a hurry too, averaging an incredible 24 games a season (there are 25 rounds, excluding the bye) while somehow managing to fit in three Origin Games a year for the unbeatable Queensland team of the past decade, along with 12 finals series, two grand final wins (both of which were stripped by the NRL due to salary cap infringements) and annual Test duties for Australia.

He was at his coordinating, orchestrating best on Saturday night against the Canberra Raiders, linking with fellow 300-gamer and Melbourne Storm icon, Cameron Smith at hooker to relentlessly apply pressure to the Raiders. Deft kicks on the end of brutal up-field surges from the forwards were the order of the day for the Storm. It's a surgical and some might argue sterile brand of football but it's it's almost unbeatable when the cogs click in together.

The Storm will take on a star-studded Cronulla Sharks outfit hoping to claim their club's first premiership in its 50 year history on Sunday.

In his column for The Australian, Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy paid tribute to Cronk's 13-year contribution to the club, on and off the field.

"For a halfback he has been very resilient to have played that many games in that amount of time. He's obviously very professional with his diet, training, and trying his injuries," he wrote.

"But one thing people don't see is how good he is around the club. If coaches or our welfare officers mention to him that one of our younger guys is struggling with football or personal issues, Cooper is the one to go and have a chat and help that player. So not only is he a great player for our club, he is a great club man as well. And he's still looking to improve."