LONG READ Has Quade Cooper solved a Lions riddle for Australia?

Imagine a riddle without a solution. Imagine a Gordian Knot which cannot be unravelled. Now apply it to rugby, and the image which starts to form in your mind’s eye may be that of ex-Wallaby 10 Quade Cooper. ‘Enigma’ does not even begin to cover the unfathomable up and downs of the Queensland magician’s career.

Right now, broadcasters covering the forthcoming British and Irish Lions visit to Australia would be well advised to snap Cooper up as their primary pundit. Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies could even hire him as a mentor or assistant coach, if his preview of the tour in a recent NewsCorp column is a reliable guide to the range and depth of his insights.

Cooper has some skin in the game as far as Lions tours go. Roll the clock back to their last visit in 2013, and he was by some distance the most creative and accomplished fly-half in Australia at the time. But he could still not crack Kiwi head coach Robbie Deans’ squad for the Test series.

Yes, he had called the Wallaby culture under Deans ‘toxic’ the previous season, and that hardly helped his cause. But of the two pivots preferred to him, one [Kurtley Beale] was in a treatment centre in Sydney after two alcohol-related incidents, while James O’Connor had missed all of Australia’s 14 Tests in 2012 because of injury. Together the trio comprised ‘the three amigos’, Australia’s youthful terrible trifecta. As O’Connor had also spent the bulk of his rugby life at full-back or on the wing rather than in the halves, it was well-nigh impossible to tell where dysfunction started and ended in the Australian rugby team.

Cooper was always very much his own man, and it cost him what should rightfully have been some of the highlight moments in his career, notably on that 2013 Lions tour and three World Cups in 2015, 2019 and 2023. Where his own coaches all too often wavered and had doubts about his value, prospective opponents had none whatsoever. They were relieved to see the back of him. Andy Farrell is leading the 2025 tourists to Aussie and was Warren Gatland’s defensive assistant 12 years earlier.

“If I was a [Wallaby] coach, I would want him in my side,” Farrell said back then. “He is a handful. I don’t know the ins and outs of why he hasn’t been selected but he brings lots to the party. I’m pretty pleased.”

Other luminaries such as Eddie Jones, who ironically dropped Cooper for the 2023 World Cup, derided the decision to leave out “the most assertive number 10 in the Australian Super Rugby teams” thus: “Quade is by far the best stand-off in Australia. He’s played 80 minutes of every Super Rugby game, he’s got a kicking game, he’s got a running game, he’s got the game that can really trouble the Lions so it’s very disappointing to see him not in the squad.”

On-field or off-field, Cooper’s rugby IQ is still as lively as ever, and he recently turned the high-beam on to the topic of Wallaby number 10 selection for the upcoming series. His first recommendation was to pick his old team-mate O’Connor in the squad, as a counterpoint to the younger breed of 10s around him.

“This isn’t just about picking names; it’s about building a squad with strategic depth and, more critically, forging a long-lost identity,” Cooper wrote.

“Noah Lolesio, Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh are all quality players. The challenge isn’t about their ability, it’s about their similarity.

“They’re all cut from a very similar cloth: smart, skilled, steady. But in a high-stakes series like this, where unpredictability and adaptability are key, you need variety. You need contrast.

“That’s where someone like [James] O’Connor becomes critical.

“His experience, creativity, and ability to see the game from a different angle adds something this group doesn’t yet have.”

Teams from the north tend to be viewed as rigid and conservative in their outlook, but on this occasion in their illustrious history, the Lions will offer more variety and creativity in the pivotal playmaking role than the home side -and that in turn creates more problems for the opposition.

It will certainly be a whole lot different to South Africa four years ago, when the most creative solution [Scotland’s Finn Russell] was not picked until the final game of the series. Cooper did not even get around to talking about England incumbent Fin Smith and veteran George Ford in his synopsis.

“You build [a winning squad] by creating a mix – by bringing different skill sets, mindsets, and backgrounds into the same space.

“The Lions 10s offer real diversity: Marcus Smith is super agile and creative. Finn Russell is very creative and has unique kicking skills. And if they bring Owen Farrell in at some stage during the tour, he is a very physical fly-half who will put a shoulder very aggressively into you.

“These guys are very different. If everyone in the squad learns from the same book, you’re going to get the same answer when faced with complex challenges.

“[O’Connor] is in a mentoring role. He’s there to learn, to guide, support and compete. His experience in a different system, combined with his competitive drive to push those guys makes him a vital voice – one who can play devil’s advocate a little bit, and challenge conventional thinking.

“You’ll have three different minds to be able to put heads together and think, ‘okay, how can we break down their defence?’ That’s the key.”

If you’re seeing a little bit of 12-year-old history dredged and brought up to date, and a few wounds reopened in these comments, you would probably be right. Perhaps Quade really is seeing a contemporary version of himself in O’Connor, stirring the pot and playing devil’s advocate in the strategic cook-up. But he is also right to question unform thinking, not least among coaches.

Coaches are no different to players, they need to be constantly challenged to accommodate the diversity of talent at their disposal. Systems need to bend to the breaking point and beyond, to accomplish that aim. There is no excuse to stop thinking outside the box.

The rehearsal, and potential improvement of 2013 only strengthened when Quade turned the spotlight on the presence of Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i. Twelve years ago, Australia were contemplating Israel Folau as their shiny new toy, similar in physique and skill levels to the ex-Sydney Rooster. The question is now as it was then, where to deploy the undoubted talent?

“I believe Sua’ali’i can be a generational talent, and the challenge for playmakers is to unlock him and his abilities. While many might eye him for full-back, I’d suggest Sua’ali’i at wing, or as a back-up at inside centre.

“His skills in the air will make it a nightmare for opposition to mark him on cross-field kicks, and he is a proven finisher. But placing that kind of power and dynamism at 12 immediately creates a defensive headache for the opposition.”

The tactical backdrop to Cooper’s main suggestion of fielding Sua’ali’i on the [right] wing is a big improvement in Wright’s kicking game. Even in defeat in the Super Rugby semi-final against the Chiefs, Wright found a way to showcase the range and power of his kicking game – especially after Lolesio departed due to injury in only the tenth minute.

Like the Chiefs, Farrell’s Lions will kick ‘long and on’ – they will tend to keep the ball infield rather than kick it out, so there is every chance some some long tactical kicking duels will develop in the course of the series. In the two clips above, Wright is controlling the play off the boot in opposition to Shaun Stevenson and Damian McKenzie, and via three very different types of kick: first a short attacking grubber off the left foot which pins the Chiefs backfield deep in its own corner, followed by a near-perfect cross-kick off the right to create a scoring opportunity for Andy Muirhead; finally, a superbly measured diagonal from inside his own half which results in a 50/22 lineout turnover for the Brumbies, who went on to score on the very next sequence of play.

When you have a full-back who can see the field and kick the ball that well, it is much easier to opt for a ‘Steady Eddie’ fly-half because you know he will enjoy excellent support from 15. That kind of tactical nous and the variety of execution is beyond Sua’ali’i at the infant stage of his professional rugby career, so he should be earmarked for either right wing or second five-eighth as Cooper suggests, where his raw running power and elusiveness could be used to achieve 2013 outcomes like this.

Wright’s ability to outkick the Chiefs backfield was a besetting problem for McKenzie and co throughout the game.

When the Chiefs try to gain ground on the runback in the first clip they are turned over at the ensuing breakdown, in the second McKenzie is forced to accept the necessity of a touch kick and offer the Brumbies an attacking lineout position on the home 40m line. Now mix that kicking game with Wright’s finely tuned judgement on the counter and you have the Test-worthy full-back you need.

Whether Schmidt chooses to renew the blend he had last November, with Sua’ali’i’s Sonny Bill Williams-like offloading prowess paired with Len Ikitau’s defensive skill in the centres, or pick the New South Wales rookie as his attacking trump on the right wing, Australia will need to squeeze every last drop of juice out of the talent at its disposal to keep up with the Lions. There will be no place for timid or prescriptive selection meetings – the more fire and brimstone and friction between different minds, the better. It is hard indeed to cover off every base if you all think, or play along the same lines.

Australia needs an O’Connor, a Sua’ali’i or a Wright to challenge the status quo – just as it needed more, rather than less of Cooper back in the day. Boldness, the pioneering spirit and a diversity of opinion is after all, at the core of the Australian Way.

According to the man himself, the Wallabies no longer produce the quality playmakers of yesteryear and have lost their way.

“The core problem is coaches change every freaking two years,” Cooper said. “This isn’t just disruptive – it’s crippling. Australia has been unable to cultivate a distinct style of play because they’re trying to get the best coach that’s out there right now, rather than adhering to a foundational Australian identity. Australian play over the last 15 years has had no identity.”

Australian rugby was never happy letting the riddle simply be itself, so it never saw the best of Cooper. But if you cannot pick a Quade, read his thoughts. They are worth the admission price alone.