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Wallabies great Adam Ashley-Cooper moves into coaching career

Adam Ashley-Cooper of Australia celebrates scoring his teams opening try during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarter Final. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Former Wallabies great Adam Ashley-Cooper has called time on his 16-year professional playing career to move into a coaching role with the LA Giltinis.

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The Venice Beach-based side confirmed on Saturday that Ashley-Cooper stayed onboard with the club in a coaching capacity after playing a key role in guiding the side to a Major League Rugby title in its first year of existence.

Confirmation of Ashley-Cooper’s retirement brings the curtain down on a 16-year professional playing career that saw the 37-year-old play 121 tests and attend four World Cups for the Wallabies between 2005 and 2019.

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A versatile utility back capable of covering the midfield, wing and fullback, Ashley-Cooper scored 39 tries for the Wallabies and played club rugby across Australia, France, Japan and the United States.

Throughout his club career, he won a Super Rugby title with the Waratahs in 2014, a Top League crown with the Kobelco Steelers in 2019 and a MLR championship with the Giltinis last month.

Ashley-Cooper will now bring that experience into his new role as a senior assistant coach for the Giltinis after he was approached by new Giltinis head coach and former Brumbies, Waratahs and Wallabies teammate Stephen Hoiles for the job.

In a statement on the club’s website, Ashley-Cooper said he was excited about moving into an off-field role, where he will work alongside backs coach Orene Ai’i in focusing on the team’s attacking play.

“This is a really exciting opportunity at the Giltinis to implement some of the ideas and tricks I’ve stored in my rugby notebook over a long career. Everything has aligned,” Ashley-Cooper said.

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“Last season with the Giltinis really was the most enjoyable 12 months of my rugby career in terms of the team culture we built and the time we had together as players coming from all over the world.

“I know Hoilesy and [general manager] Adam Freier are working really, really hard to sustain that standard. Keeping the really competitive environment of hard work and fun that made the Giltinis click really appeals to me too.”

However, while his playing days are done for the foreseeable future, Ashley-Cooper refused to rule out lacing up the boots again in the future if called upon by the Giltinis.

“It’s a transition rather than calling it a retirement because we all know rugby players never really retire. I’d like to keep one or two games up my sleeve for somewhere, sometime,” he said.

“I see my coaching role as helping out on attack, working with Orene, and also helping the further growth of young backs like John Ryberg, Ryan James and Adam Channel.”

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f
fl 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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