New selector's comments on Quade Cooper should scare all Wallabies fans
Incoming Wallabies selector Michael O’Connor has outlined what pragmatic playmaker Quade Cooper must do to re-earn Wallabies selection.
“There are still areas in his game he needs work on and if he can improve those, well then he’ll be in the reckoning,” O’Connor said.
“I would be very surprised if Michael [Cheika] didn’t agree with that.
“At Test level though you can’t be throwing blind passes. You can’t be taking risks at the line.”
As vague as the statement is, there isn’t much at face value Cooper can take away from that and hopefully conversations behind closed doors reveal more to him. The message seems to be that Cooper must take fewer risks, not make better decisions and execute.
“You can’t be taking risks at the line” is the most concerning thing to hear in particular.
Any ball-player needs to play at the line in order to create. That is the only way to challenge defenders and open holes with a passing game. That is what Johnny Sexton does for Ireland. Joe Schmidt is designing plays to put Sexton in position to ball-play and take risks, albeit delicately calculated, at the line.
It is almost the entire foundation of their attacking game – Sexton’s job is to create line breaks to win attacking field position, halfback Conor Murray’s job is to land the killer blows inside the 22.
Outside of that, you must have game-breaking athletes like Israel Folau or Stuart Hogg to break the line, who can shed tackles and do it all by oneself, something the 30-year-old Cooper isn’t going to do.
The Wallabies have struggled with this ‘early wide ball’ philosophy under Cheika, hoping that their athletes can make something happen by hopelessly spinning wide through the halves that do nothing but add more depth to the play by standing deep and shoveling deeper.
Trying to go around defences has only resulted in continually going backward for the Wallabies in recent years. The international game is so tight now with the advancement of defence, space is at a premium. You have to be smarter about how you create space in this age, which we have only really seen the Wallabies do in the Salta miracle game when the game plan ‘was thrown out the window’ at halftime against Argentina. They played direct and passed flat to runners hitting gaps and made a historic comeback that likely saved Cheika’s job. Israel Folau’s best plays for the Wallabies are now coming from running a hard line outside a pod, hitting a change-up ball flat at pace at the line, showing how it’s done.
Cooper should be encouraged to play at the line, and better yet, play should be designed to manufacture situations where the odds of him finding success are higher. You scheme the ‘where and when’, aim to create overlaps and personnel mismatches, live and die on him making the right read, review and learn from the mistakes, adjust and try again.
It’s not about taking fewer risks, it’s about minimising risk and putting odds in your favour for maximising reward, and actually, use his playmaking and game-changing talents. If Cooper is put in as another robotic distributor in Cheika’s system, it will do nothing to improve the Wallabies play.
We have seen him play a conservative ‘distributor’ role in the Wallabies before under Cheika. In a 2016 Bledisloe Cup match, in one of his last games against the All Blacks, Quade Cooper was given the start in Wellington by Cheika, with Bernard Foley moving to 12.
It was the most un-Quade test match seen and resulted in the Wallabies losing 29-9. He did not fire a shot the whole match, instead, going through the motions of programming Cheika’s pattern as a passer with his feet in cement blocks and a shovel in his hands.
He played his instructed role, took no risk and they went nowhere. He finished with a total of two running metres, passing 14 times and running four, although most of these carries were taking it to ground in the face of pressure. There are genuine concerns about his decision-making at times, but Cooper’s worst test matches aren’t always the result of taking obscene risks, it’s usually when the basics start to go wrong – dropping high balls in the backfield, kicking out on the full of the restart, which are execution errors.
Hopefully these throwaway comments by Michael O’Connor are meaningless air, but it’s all too familiar and illustrative of Australian Rugby’s inability to find and develop a new international flyhalf – they don’t know what to look for or how to use one, and certainly telling a flyhalf not to take risks at the line is scary advice for a team that finished with their worst attacking year on record.
Michael Hooper ahead of Sunwolves:
Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments