The scuttlebutt is growing increasingly stronger that Quade Cooper has signed, or is about to sign, a two year deal with the World XV, sorry, Toulon. Knowing something is about to happen doesn’t make the suffering any less. Look, we all knew it was probable. We’ve been expecting a signing for a few years. But Quade’s move to France is still a massive kick in the guts, admittedly more to Reds fans perhaps than the wider Australian Rugby fan.
Quade remains one of the few players I have seen in the game that left me dumbstruck with what he was able to produce on the rugby field. Sure he left us slapping our forehead a bit early on, but soon enough the only slapping was our jaws slapping against the floor as produced plays rarely seen before.
Remember that 20m back of hand pass to Peter Hynes against the Highlanders back in ’10? What he did to the Blues to set up Benny Tapuai in that 2011 Semi-Final? Just magic.
And now it seems Quade is leaving our fair shores to follow the well beaten path to France. Will we see him again in Australia? At 27 you’d think it’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
Make no mistake, this is a massive blow to Queensland Rugby. But it’s not the first. Speaking as a fan, we seem to have made a habit of losing key players. Now I am not talking about the schoolboy prodigies. The David Pococks, the Matty Toomuas, the Paul Alo-Emiles. That’s a whoooooole different article about how those players slipped from our grasp.
No. This one is about the contracted players who left us for ‘greener pastures’ who, as a passionate Reds fan, were our biggest player losses!
