Time is ticking for Quade Cooper
The famed writer of the Peanuts cartoon series Charles Schulz is quoted as saying, “There is no greater burden than great potential.” In context to Australian Rugby Quade Cooper is the player who endures such.
Despite his exhilarating return to first class rugby and call up to the Wallabies training group, Melbourne Rebels flyhalf Quade Cooper remains the most renowned international player in the game yet to realise his full potential and time is running out for the 30-year-old.
With Rugby World Cups being played every four years, the completion of each tournament tends to be the staging point of refreshment for both coaching and playing stocks alike for many Unions and even the most ardent of Cooper’s supporters would have to concede that Cooper would have little chance of playing in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France as a 34-year-old.
Now is his time. If there were ever to be a golden international era of Quade Cooper it must be now as time catches up with all, even the greats, of which Quade Cooper is not despite having the potential to be.
As it stands Quade Cooper’s international career remains disappointing to be frank. Seldom have I seen a player who can orchestrate an attack like him yet also fail to truly deliver on what god given talent he has.
When I think of the great flyhalves of Australian Rugby Quade Cooper simply is not in the conversation.
Cooper has not delivered success to Australia as the great Mark Ella did in 1984 scoring a try in every test in the now legendary Grand Slam Tour of Britain and Ireland.
Nor is he of the calibre of the late Phil Hawthorne who was instrumental on the 1963 Tour of South Africa where the unheralded Wallabies managed to draw the four-test series 2-2 against a great South African side.
And we should never forget the deeds of Paul McLean who guided Australia when they defeated the magnificent Welsh side of 1978 in a two-test series. Additionally, Cooper simply does not have the World Cups or Bledisloe Cups that Michael Lynagh and Stephen Larkham rightfully have a claim on.
The great disappointment has been that Quade Cooper has shown the rugby world he is capable of playing rugby that even the Ella’s, Lynagh’s and Larkham’s did not have in their repertoire. I never saw or heard of any of the Wallaby greats be able to pass and operate within the confines Cooper often finds himself in, jinking, weaving and passing from angles that appear to be a near mathematical impossibility yet he has mesmerized the rugby public with such displays.
Quade Cooper is the most gifted attacking player to wear the 10 guernsey for Australia yet also one of the greatest disappointments to date relative to his potential.
He has played alongside the likes of David Pocock, Will Genia, James Horwill, Dan Vickermann Stephen Moore, Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau. Superb players all. There is no credible argument that Cooper has played in an era where he did not have a supporting cast to facilitate his gifted game.
Furthermore, Cooper has had the benefit of some of the better coaches in the game, in particular, Robbie Deans and Ewen McKenzie with the latter being a coach who appeared to truly grasp what Cooper could do on a rugby park and harness that potential to achieve results.
Few seem to recall that in 2013 under McKenzie and with Cooper at 10, the Wallabies came perilously close to winning a Grand Slam, something that only one other Australian side has ever achieved. Dubious officiating against the English at Twickenham had its part to play in the loss that prevented the Slam being attained but what was evident is that Quade Cooper was starting to deliver on his potential consistently.
2013 was Cooper’s greatest year in Wallaby gold thus far, in particular, his performance against the Irish at Lansdowne Road where he simply left the hosts guessing at his next move. The directness of his attack toward the line coupled with the variation of both long and short passing to support runners was the moment he truly arrived as an international flyhalf.
Whilst it would be one for the famed host of hypothesis forums Geoffrey Robertson, one of the most provocative hypothetical rugby questions in Australian rugby circles is, if Ewen McKenzie had not resigned as Wallabies coach, how successful could have Quade Cooper been as a Wallabies fly half? I suggest the trajectory he was on under the McKenzie eye was one that could have elevated him into much higher esteem than he currently enjoys.
Quade Cooper’s international rugby career is at a juncture where it is unclear if his best international rugby being behind him or does it remain slightly ahead? Whilst the clarity of that situation will become apparent later in 2019 as Cooper’s Super Rugby form is deserving of his recall to the Wallaby ranks. He is again the premiere flyhalf in Australian rugby and is playing the style of rugby not seen since 2013.
The issue I struggle with is that Quade Cooper has proven endlessly he knows how to win Super Rugby matches, but despite earning 70 Wallaby caps with a success rate of just over 60% he has never guided Australia to a significant series victory. With respect to the 2011 Tri-Nations, that was a truncated version of that tournament and despite a wonderful win against the All Blacks in Brisbane in 2011, it is not Grand Slam, Bledisloe or World Cup.
The obvious question is that if Quade Cooper becomes the Wallabies flyhalf of choice for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, are Michael Cheika and his cohorts brave enough to allow Cooper the latitude that he enjoyed under Ewen McKenzie and appears to have under Rebels Coach Dave Wessels?
Another reality is that if he is selected for the Wallabies but not given the latitude as he may not have had under Robbie Deans, is Quade Cooper now a mature enough player to play to the system the coach and team require?
In any event, the true challenge for Quade Cooper in 2019 is he must find a definitive way to deliver on his rugby ability as his rugby legacy presently is one of unfulfilled potential. If he does not, the best he may hope for, akin to Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame, is for people to politely say when asked about his international rugby career, “You’re a good man Quade Cooper.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments