Hull-raising Paul Cooke keen to make amends with new club Wakefield

Paul Cooke, the stand-off who, three years ago, crossed the river Hull to leave the city bitterly divided, has now moved out of town altogether, and hopes to become the latest beneficiary of the Wakefield Trinity coach John Kear's famous knack of harnessing errant talent. Cooke, whose move from Hull to Hull KR turned sour after a honeymoon period in which he helped to establish Rovers in the Super League, has signed a short-term deal with Trinity until the end of the season and is likely to make his debut in Sunday's home game against Salford. His chequered spell at Craven Park included a four-month suspension from the Rugby Football League when he was found guilty of misconduct in engineering his move from Hull, and he was twice dropped for long periods by the Rovers coach, Justin Morgan – once before a derby at the KC Stadium in July 2008, and again three matches into the current season. A hinterland that also includes two motoring offences, one of them involving drink-driving, and an assault conviction would seem to make the tall 28-year-old a challenging project even for Kear. However, there is no doubting Cooke's singular talent, which he displayed most consistently under Kear's coaching at Hull FC in the 2005 season, when he scored the try that sealed a 25-24 Challenge Cup final win against Leeds in Cardiff. He also leaves Hull KR with a remarkable record of winning in each of the seven derbies he has started since Rovers' arrival in the Super League in 2007 – the first with Hull before he crossed the city for six more victories with the Robins, two of them at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. He tasted defeat once, as a substitute in Rovers' defeat at Craven Park in 2007. "Paul is one of the most gifted players of his generation," said Kear. "We know each other well [and] I'm a great admirer of his skill set. He's the kind of player who makes other players play well and that's a special quality." Cooke had become an expensive misfit who Hull KR could no longer afford – their highest-paid player, yet not deemed worthy of a place in the team – but had to negotiate a severance agreement before he could link up again with Kear, who was only able to offer him a six-month contract. "The decision came down to whether to play rugby league or not," he said. "Fortunately, John has been an admirer and, although the negotiations ran on, we've finally got there and I get to play again. "I've spent all my life in Hull and still have many friends from both sides of the city. Of course it's a sad time whenever you leave anything on maybe not the right terms but it's a big opportunity to play for a club I've had many a battle with over the years. "Who knows what the future holds? My career has taken many a twist and turn." Kear has also included Danny Brough in his 19-man squad for the Salford game, thereby holding open the possibility of reuniting Hull's 2005 cup-winning half-back combination. However, if they do team up it will almost certainly be for one match only as Huddersfield are close to finalising a deal to sign Brough, without which Wakefield would have been unable to afford Cooke's wages. The scrum-half is expected to join the high-flying Giants before their home game against St Helens on Sunday week, but they had no pressing need to sign him ahead of tomorrow's trip to Harlequins, which could be a landslide on recent evidence. Huddersfield climbed into the top three by beating Leeds on Sunday but Quins fell to rock bottom with a home defeat by Salford, and the London club's chances of avoiding a rout at the Stoop have been further undermined by the loss of their influential forward Karl Temata with a recurrence of his hamstring trouble. Even more ominously, Brett Hodgson, Huddersfield's Australian captain and reigning Man of Steel who has missed their last two matches, makes a surprisingly early return to the Giants' squad after an ankle injury. "As much as you feel for them, it's not for us to take the foot off the gas or have any pity," said the Huddersfield coach, Nathan Brown.