Saturday, September 29, 2012
Deans: Door open for Cooper
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans maintains the door is still open for Quade Cooper despite the playmaker's ongoing criticism of Australian rugby.
The Australian team continued its build-up for Saturday's Rugby Championship Test against South Africa in Pretoria and did not want to let Cooper's latest round of comments become a distraction.
The injured 24-year-old said he was uncertain about his Test playing future unless his concerns were addressed.
When asked in a television appearance on Thursday night if he would have played for the Wallabies if he had not been injured and picked in the side. Cooper said he would not.
"No, like I said, it's the environment there at the moment is one that I don't feel comfortable in and if I don't feel comfortable and if I don't feel that I can give 100 per cent for my country and that yellow jersey, that's a very big problem," he told Fox Sports.
Cooper, who previously described the environment within the Wallabies as "toxic", made it clear how unhappy he was with the current set-up the national team operated under.
"For me to continue to improve as a player and as a person you want to be involved in the best possible environment and I feel that environment is sort of destroying me as a person and as a player," Cooper said.
He said he believed the Wallabies needed to be better looked after and prepared if they were to perform at their best.
Deans was asked if the door was still open and replied: "yes", adding he was open to talking through the issues with the disillusioned player.
"I haven't seen his quotes (from the television show)," Deans said at a press conference in Pretoria.
"We're concentrating on playing a Test.
"It hasn't been a distraction at all, we've had a good week of preparation."
The Queensland Reds player says he would love to honour a three-year deal he agreed to with the Super Rugby franchise earlier this year but whether the deal is ratified by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) is out of his hands.
He said he'd been communicating with Deans via text messages since his comments over the weekend, reiterating his spat isn't a personal one between the pair.
But he expressed a further frustration that his talents were being wasted under Deans' current strategies.
"As the five-eighth you'd like to think you've got input into the game plans and sometimes the input goes in one ear and out the other," he said.
Cooper's outburst and his Twitter comment he'd like to play with friend and former All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams have re-ignited speculation he could be headed to rugby league, with Williams expected to join the Sydney Roosters next year.
The ARU broke its silence on the issue earlier on Thursday with a brief statement which said they'd written to Cooper about his comments but didn't disclose if he was facing disciplinary action.
AAP
Tags: sport, rugby-union, australia First posted September 28, 2012 08:14:36ARU left confused by quarrelling Quade
Australian Rugby Union (ARU) chief John O'Neill is "utterly confused" at much of the criticism levelled by Quade Cooper at his organisation and says it is up to the fly half if he plays for the Wallabies again.
Cooper, currently sidelined by injury, said in a television interview on Thursday he would not play for Australia unless changes were made to the "toxic" environment surrounding the team, which he felt was "destroying" him.
"Most disturbingly, he was firm about not playing for the Wallabies unless things change," O'Neill said in a statement released on Friday.
"If that is how he feels, then that is his choice. The reality is a decision on whether or not he stays in Australian rugby has to this point rested with him since he received an ARU offer in early July."
The 24-year-old's contract with the ARU expires at the end of the year and he has not signed a new deal despite agreeing to stay an extra three years in Super Rugby with the Queensland Reds.
In the television interview, Cooper slammed the defensive tactics of coach Robbie Deans, who was installed by O'Neill, and said his dissatisfaction with the environment at the Wallabies had come to a head after the win over Argentina two weeks ago.
"Much of what was said ... has left us utterly confused," O'Neill added.
"Quade wants more of a say in the game plan, he wants to play his style of game. He certainly made that clear. Yet he also said he could adapt if required.
"He talks of an unhappy environment without elaborating. He uses the word 'toxic' - an extremely strong descriptor."
Another of Cooper's complaints was that the Wallabies did not have a dedicated training facility, a criticism dismissed out of hand by O'Neill.
"We've never had these concerns raised previously," he said.
"The fact is the Wallabies are a national team. They train, stay and play in cities all around the country and overseas.
"The Australian cricket team and the Socceroos, same thing. Suggesting the Wallabies are under resourced has equally come out of the blue."
Cooper also reiterated that he wanted to play alongside Sonny Bill Williams, the All Black who has been linked with NRL side the Sydney Roosters, further fuelling rumours that he might be preparing to quit rugby union.
Cooper said he intended to honour his three-year contract with the Reds, but said whether the deal was ratified by the ARU was out of his hands.
At his best a mercurial talent whose unpredictability can unlock the game's increasingly tight defences, Cooper helped Australia to a first Tri-Nations title in a decade last year.
The New Zealand-born playmaker had less success at last year's World Cup in New Zealand, where he was vilified as the host country's "public enemy number one" and ended the tournament with a serious knee injury.
A further problem with the joint ruled him out of Saturday's match against South Africa in Pretoria and the last Wallabies game of the Rugby Championship against the Pumas in Argentina.
Reuters
Tags: sport, rugby-union, australia First posted September 28, 2012 14:40:56Friday, September 28, 2012
Cooper hints Wallabies career may be over
Injured five-eighth Quade Cooper says he is unlikely to play for the Wallabies again unless his concerns about the state of Australian rugby are addressed.
Cooper, who spoke of a "toxic environment" within the Wallabies during an interview on Sunday, has stood by his comments before making it clear how unhappy he is with the current set-up the national team operates under.
The Queensland Reds playmaker says he would love to honour a three-year contract he agreed with the Super Rugby franchise earlier this year but whether the deal is ratified by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) is out of his hands.
And Cooper will not be backing down from his belief the Wallabies need to be better looked after and prepared if they are to perform at their best.
"I'm just trying here to be the best that I can be and that's why I said I didn't want to be involved in that kind of environment," Cooper told Fox Sports.
"For me to continue to improve as a player and as a person you want to be involved in the best possible environment and I feel that environment is sort of destroying me as a person and as a player.
"The environment there is one that I don't feel comfortable in and if I don't feel comfortable in it, if I don't feel I can give 100 per cent for my country and for that yellow jersey, that's a very big problem."
Cooper says his frustration came to a head in the build-up to the Wallabies' Rugby Championship Test against Argentina on the Gold Coast earlier this month.
The Wallabies scraped home to claim a come-from-behind 23-19 win over the Pumas but Cooper says the result still felt like a defeat and left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Cooper says there is "a number of things" that need to be addressed starting with the facilities available to the Wallabies to prepare for matches.
He says he has been communicating with coach Robbie Deans via text messages since his comments over the weekend, reiterating his spat is not a personal one between himself and Deans.
But he expressed a further frustration that his talents were being wasted under Deans' current strategies.
"As the five-eighth you'd like to think you've got input into the game plans and sometimes the input goes in one ear and out the other," he said.
"That's how, myself, I definitely feel. I'm an attacking player, so if you're going to put an attacking player in and expect them to play a defensive game style then do you have input?"
Cooper's outburst and his comment on Twitter that he would like to play with close friend and former All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams have re-ignited the argument that the 24-year-old could be a target for rugby league.
Williams is expected to join Sydney Roosters next year.
The ARU broke its silence on the issue earlier on Thursday with a brief statement, which said they had written to Cooper about his comments but did not disclose if he was facing disciplinary action.
Cooper said his first choice would still be to stay in rugby if he has that option.
AAP
Tags: rugby-union, sport, brisbane-4000 First posted September 27, 2012 22:44:54