Quade Cooper going to NRL?

[DPK]

Mods, maybe this thread and the Weidler one should be merged as they both cover the same topic. Alternatively maybe everyone could start posting in the Weidler thread.....

Yeah, the Weilder thread name should be kept though (because of it's hilarity)

 

[Lee Grant]

Merged but the Quade Cooper .... title was used as being clearer for the odd stranger who doesn't know who Weidler is.

 

[fatprop]

Rugby's rush to deny Quade Cooper's defection to league with Parramatta Eels

* Darren Walton
* From: AAP
* August 13, 2010 12:54PM

AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union boss John O'Neill and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans have refuted reports that star playmaker Quade Cooper is considering a shock defection to rugby league next season.

The Daily Telegraph exclusively reported that Cooper had held secret negotiations with the Parramatta NRL club but both O'Neill and Deans say the 22-year-old is going nowhere.

O'Neill suspects the report is typical of a player agent trying to bump up his charge's price tag at a time the ARU is in negotiations with Australia's reigning Super 14 player of the year.

"We already had a meeting with his agent scheduled today," O'Neill said. "It may just be a coincidence that we wake up to a headline.

"Quade's a rising star ... a young man at the start of his career - why would you go to rugby league?

"He's got the world at his feet in our game, he's got a World Cup next year, he's a player we want to retain and we're confident in the coming week or so we'll have a satisfactory deal done.

"Negotiations are continuing. They have been underway for a little while now and we're confident Quade will be staying in rugby union."

Asked his thoughts on the reports, Deans said: "There is no dalliance with league".

"Quade's expressed to us that not only does he love what he does but he wants to continue doing it and personally I'm pretty confident that that will be the case," he said.

"This tends to happen. It's newsworthy, so to speak - maybe - but I'm confident in the long run [he'll stay]."

 

[RedsHappy]

I don't think it should be assumed for one minute that the ARU will _necessarily_ handle the QC (Quade Cooper) matter with the required care, just because of its obvious importance. Let's of course hope they will, but the way they handled Vickerman's salary requests the last time round in 2008 (as he's now openly leaked to the media this week) was hardly optimal (assuming you are a supporter of Vickerman's worth, that is).

I find the ARU a mirror of their Wallabies; sudden bursts of excellence, then inexplicable lapses into odd decisions, or the wrong ones.

 

[RedsHappy]

Just to add: I agree with Eddie Jones in last Friday's The Courier Mail (extract below), we cannot trust the ARU to handle this optimally:

Quade would watch every game of NRL he could and would love the game.

It is also clear that Quade loves union. He has agreed to play for the Queensland Reds for two more years so if you need to find fault in this fascinating story it is at the Australian Rugby Union.

How could the ARU not give absolute priority to finalising Cooper's contract. It is mind-boggling to contemplate this a month after Cooper's court issues were resolved by mediation.

The assumption that Quade is loyal is a dangerous assumption. He is loyal but like most people wants and needs financial security.

 

[Gnostic]

I think that Cooper will leave. He will be the only starting Wallaby to defect since Garrick Morgan. It is a pity since many stood by him during his "issues" this year. If he forgets that there will be no returning the bitterness that will cause will be huge.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27557932-5016959,00.html

The tone of this article indicates he is looking for parity between what he will be paid between the NRL and Rugby contracts he he will sign for Parramatta.

Ironically one of Rugby's biggest strengths against League is its true international status. The fact that NRL players earn a similar wage and get to stay at home pretty much while Rugby players trek the world is a big advantage and disadvantage all in one. It is the reason why the 6N and Hieniken Cup have gone from strength to strength. Players and fans can go to home and away games and create that massive atmosphere and still go home for dinner in most cases. While the 3N and S14 generally have a much higher standard of competition these issues continue to hamper the comps, and encourage players to cut short their careers in them so they can be at "home" more with the family/ friends etc.

Also the fact that the whole Wallabies set up is falling to bits can't be encouraging Cooper to stay. He has little chance of achieving any top level success the way the team is playing.

 

[chief]

I think Cooper is going to leave as well. O'Neil has left Rugby League players alone, he choose to leave Inglis alone, and has chosen to stay away from the Melbourne Storm. A lot of those players were going cheap too, and they could have been a hit in Rugby. If he indeed does sign with the Eels (it's gonna happen i reckon) I think after the 2011 RWC, when these Leaguies contracts are coming we are going to see some raids on the League stocks. I personally can't wait.

Also if Cooper plays for NZ in League I think it's a no coming back to the Wallabies.

To be honest, I'm actually not THAT concerned. If Barnes returns to his form like he had last year, and Toomoua really steps up, sure they are no Quade, but it isn't the end of the world.

 

[Gagger]

If Cooper has re-signed a legal contract with the Reds, how is he going to play league with Parramatta without getting his arse sued?

(note: Parramatta is in Australia, not France which was how SBW busted his contract)

Is there some sort of Wallabies top up get out clause to the Qld contract?

 

[waratahjesus]

iif he goes he will fail, you cant hide defence in league, just watch benji marshall of the tigers or cris sandow of souths play and get targeted like a fox in england. Quade is a worse defender than both of them.

if he is thinking about it at all, then play barnes and gits in south africa, let him warm the bench, send him a messege he has more to prove than he thinks.

and the anit ARu crap about handling things with sensitivity, well, maybe but ultimately after the gary flowers debarcle, i would refer the ARU to handle things within there finances than buckle to indivudual players every time a contract comes up.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

iif he goes he will fail, you cant hide defence in league, just watch benji marshall of the tigers or cris sandow of souths play and get targeted like a fox in england. Quade is a worse defender than both of them.

if he is thinking about it at all, then play barnes and gits in south africa, let him warm the bench, send him a messege he has more to prove than he thinks.

and the anit ARu crap about handling things with sensitivity, well, maybe but ultimately after the gary flowers debarcle, i would refer the ARU to handle things within there finances than buckle to indivudual players every time a contract comes up.

What??? League is the sport where you CAN hide defenders

 

[RugbyReg]

Don't think he has signed. He came out verbally committed to them to clear up all the talk about going west etc. But he couldn't sign anything until the ARU contract was finalised.

If Cooper has re-signed a legal contract with the Reds, how is he going to play league with Parramatta without getting his arse sued?

(note: Parramatta is in Australia, not France which was how SBW busted his contract)

Is there some sort of Wallabies top up get out clause to the Qld contract?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I going to go against the prevailing opinion here and say that he'll stay, at least for now. He has the opportunity to raise his value even further by some good performances in the remaining games this year. This will get him further bargaining power with the ARU and it might price him out of the NRL. They have a salary cap and we don't. We have 3rd party contracts and top-ups, the NRL doesn't (though they may be about to get 3rd party contracts?). This and the fact that most Union players would rather play union (and the fact that the money in the NH is substantially higher than either) means that the one way traffic to league has all but stopped.

Cooper has come out and said he's got more to achieve in this game. I think we'll have him until the RWC and he may go after that. So be it.

 

[DPK]

You can hide defenders in League, although it does present different and arguably bigger problems than in Rugby. If you couldn't, Preston Campbell wouldn't have had the career he has.

 

[RedsHappy]

Don't think he has signed. He came out verbally committed to them to clear up all the talk about going west etc. But he couldn't sign anything until the ARU contract was finalised.

RR, I think that's correct. His loss would be a massive blow to the Reds and would almost certainly hit 2011 S15 gate income when the QRU is slowly getting back on its economic feet after near-bankruptcy. I also know from my son's BNE rugby club that QC (Quade Cooper) was an absolute hit with kids in rugby and in other codes, he was/is a genuine code magnet in QLD. And boy do we need them.

If the ARU screw this up, it will be one of their worst debacles of large negative proportion and consequence, and they have made far too many mistakes and bad judgements since 2003.

 

[RugbyFuture]

In the end the days of top level Ruggers switching to mungoball are over.

The fact this broke in the daily terror attests to the fact this is merely a speculative wish by the mungo community

 

[Groucho]

IMO there is ZERO change Cooper will switch codes. It would be a financial absurdity in the long term.

 

[Gagger]

Don't think he has signed. He came out verbally committed to them to clear up all the talk about going west etc. But he couldn't sign anything until the ARU contract was finalised.

I thank my steamed colleague

 

[Tangawizi]

At first I thought this story was nothing more than a beat-up, but it seems to have grown significant legs to suggest there is more to it. If Quade tells JON his story walking, it will be a sad day for all Wallabies fans but just more of the same old shit for Reds fans. You think the stars have re-signed, and then a big one fucks off.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...ooper-to-the-nrl/story-e6freoof-1225905599631

 

[H...]

I've read that Giteau's top up from the ARU is in the order of $450,000. Plus test match payments. Is that accurate?

 

[chief]

You know what ticks me off. Is that the QRU and ARU stood by him. QRU and ARU would have been better off. We could have gotten Quade a lot cheaper. A lot less cheaper. Having morale's suck hey.