As Sydney NRL clubs work themselves into a frenzy, there's no guarantee that Cooper Cronk will be playing footy when he leaves Melbourne Storm at the end of this season. Cronk's announcement obviously came as a shock and the ripples (or waves) that were felt by everyone in the NRL community should act as a fantastic mark of Cronk's quality. Jonathan Thurston's the best, to not include Cronk in a conversation about the best halfbacks ever though, would border on stupidity.

Cronk has left us all hanging by a thread. Sydney clubs will be doing all sorts of calculations and running through possibilities to try get a meeting with Cronk, while the NRL universe doesn't even know if Cronk will continue to play footy. The major theme from Cronk's announcement was that it was time to put family first and instead of flying up to Sydney with any spare time he got, Cronk can now look forward to living in Sydney where he'll play a supporting role to his fiance. The reason why he's leaving Melbourne, could be the reason why Cronk could retire.

There are two angles to Cronk's departure. The first revolves around what the Storm will do to plug a major hole and just as Thurston will step aside from rep footy after the World Cup to stagger Queensland's impending retirements, it feels like Cronk's doing something similar. Cronk could have stayed with the Storm, played for a few more seasons and then moved up to Sydney, but by that time Cameron Smith and Billy Slater would also be seriously contemplating their respective futures. 

Cronk's stepping aside early and this will allow the Storm time to get a young halfback in there, playing alongside Smith and Slater. Timing is everything and the Storm already have Ryley Jacks playing outside Cronk at the moment, while Brodie Croft has looked like a Cronk-clone in his brief NRL game time. As the San Antonio Spurs of the NRL, you'd expect Melbourne to be uber prepared for a departure like this and although Croft would immediately resemble Cronk, the Storm have a young bloke ready to fill Cronk's boots.

Melbourne also have Cameron Munster ready to fill Slater's boots and our own #KiwiNRL hooker Brandon Smith to fill Cameron Smith's boots; it's the Melbourne way.

The Storm will be all good and Cronk knows it. As for the other angle? Well, all the plebs up in Sydney would love to have a player of Cronk's ilk, let alone a bloke who could genuinely influence a club's culture. I say plebs because no Sydney club is run like the Storm and while the Storm have had their fair share of drama, they have also sustained success over a long period of time while the drama of Sydney's clubs is nothing more than petty, sans the success.

Every Sydney club would be better for Cronk's arrival, at this stage there's not even any point in dissecting why the Bulldogs, Eels or Dragons could be a good fit for Cronk because every Sydney club would benefit if Cronk chose them. The ramifications of Cronk's arrival though would be intense because most of the Sydney clubs have established halves combinations that would need to be broken up to fit Cronk in.

Parramatta are playing alright with Corey Norman and Clint Gutherson, while the Dragons have splashed the cash to lure Ben Hunt down from Brisbane and he'll likely join Gareth Widdop. The Doggies already have Josh Reynolds and Moses Mbye, the Tigers will want to keep Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks around, the Rabbitohs have Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker, the Roosters have Mitchell Pearce and Luke Keary, Penrith have Nathan Cleary and Te Maire Martin and Cronulla have Chad Townsend and James Maloney. 

Cronk is better than all those halves, for sure. These Sydney clubs have invested a lot into their generally young halves, many of whom are local juniors and even though Cronk is better than all of them, it will be interesting to see which clubs are willing to cut their losses and snare Cronk for a few years. That club would need to be desperate for short-term success.

But we've got no idea that Cronk will keep playing, so I'll let the Aussie rumour-hounds speculate. Melbourne Storm are Melbourne Storm and they're well equipped to move on without Cronk, they are also now Premiership favourites if their forward pack can stay healthy as they'll be desperate to send Cronk out a winner.

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