Cooke played for the North Island in 1931 and spent 1932 with Hawke's Bay, before switching codes.

[3] Cooke joined the Richmond Rovers club in the Auckland Rugby League competition in 1932 and made an immediate impact, racing away for three tries in the inter-island game only weeks later.

[5][7] In the 1936 season the Ponsonby side finished with a 7 win, 6 loss record, coming 5th in the Fox Memorial competition.

They were knocked out of the Roope Rooster in the first round of the same season but then went on to win the Phelan Shield after defeating Mount Albert, Papakura, Devonport, and Marist (in the final).

With the outbreak of World War II, Cooke joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force and played rugby union for that service in the 1940 Auckland club competition.