Wallaby Quade Cooper charged with burglary
WALLABY and Queensland Reds star Quade Cooper has been charged with burglary after an alleged break-in on the Gold Coast.
The 21-year-old flyhalf was arrested in a backyard at Budds Beach near Surfers Paradise after the door of a house, rented by two foreign university students, was allegedly kicked in and a laptop computer taken.
A police source said officers used capsicum spray to subdue Cooper during the 4am arrest but a police spokeswoman would not confirm this. Another source said the students came home to find their house had been broken into and rang police.
The students, from Colombia and Turkey, had no idea they had allegedly been burgled by an Australian sports star until told by police. The students would not comment when The Courier-Mail - The Daily Telegraph's sister paper - visited their Palm Ave home, saying they were yet to give official statements to police.
Cooper was charged with one count of burglary and was bailed to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on Friday. He made no comment when he was released from the Southport watch-house.
Queensland Rugby Union media manager Paul Reid said the Reds wanted to know more of the details before making any official comment. "We haven't spoken to Quade yet so we don't know his side of it,'' he said.
He said it was too early too speculate over whether the star back would be disciplined by the Queensland Reds Super 14 rugby club. Earlier this year, Cooper was fined $10,000 by the Australian Rugby Union for breaking the
window of a taxi in a skylarking incident outside a Brisbane nightclub.
Cooper recently returned from a breakthrough Wallabies tour, where he played all four Tests in Australia's grand slam quest. His form was one of the few bright spots on an inconsistent Wallabies tour and he was praised for finding a new level of maturity in his game as he replaced the injured Berrick Barnes at inside centre.
Cooper is currently on holidays and was scheduled to return to pre-season training with the Reds in January. ARU and QRU officials are likely to await the outcome of Friday's court appearance before jointly deciding on any action against Cooper, such as standing him down.
ARU boss John O'Neill has previously taken a dim view of player misbehaviour. He rubber-stamped the sacking of Western Force halfback Matt Henjak in February last year after he was involved in a fight with a team-mate.
And Mr O'Neill tore up the contract of Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri this year for reasons both refused to disclose.
New Zealand-born Cooper moved to Brisbane when with his family when he was 15 and was snapped up by the Australian Rugby Union-funded National Talent Squad. He debuted for the Reds in 2007 at the age of 18 in just his first year out of school and made the Wallabies team last year, scoring a try in his maiden Test, against Italy.
