There tends to be an air of inevitability when Cooper Cronk finds himself involved in a major moment in rugby league. He may talk like a ball-playing Buddha but he approaches the pointy end of games with all the spiritual enlightenment of a Navy SEAL sniper.

Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men, always tends to spring to mind when Cronk starts talking about his casual serenity when the pressure mounts. I'm sure he could calmly eat breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans trained to kill him, then casually lob a field goal over the wire for the win.

Much has been made of Cronk's shift to the Roosters and the treatment of Mitchell Pearce, a favourite son of the club that was clinically moved on to accommodate the ex-Melbourne No.7.

The deal was done with only one outcome in mind, that being another premiership for the tricolours. At stages during the season, Cronk had his critics, which put him in an unusual situation given his sustained excellent over the years.

Now, Nick Politis can go very close to lighting a cigar and doing his best impersonation of John "Hannibal" Smith from The A Team: "I love it when a plan comes together." They have just two games to go, starting with South Sydney on Saturday night at Allianz Stadium.