The Red Baron
Chilla Wilson (44)
If he was a Tah I'd bet there would be a bucket of money that would influence him to re-sign.
Reds 2015
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If he was a Tah I'd bet there would be a bucket of money that would influence him to re-sign.
qwerty51
Stirling Mortlock (74)
My point exactly.. I'm sure you can detail us on how much the ARU are offering him compared to Toulon.
Does anyone really think a contract involving consecutive seasons in each hemisphere is the right choice for Cooper?
Surely the flexible contract system demands far more from the player and a lot less from the ARU compared to the standard ARU contract.
Surely the flexible contract system demands far more from the player and a lot less from the ARU compared to the standard ARU contract.
The Red Baron
Chilla Wilson (44)
Lol. Don't you love it when the troll gets trolled? Not everything is about the Tahs qwerty.
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
It's probably not in the best interests of very many players at all from a burnout point of view, but the reality of the situation is that it is going to happen.
Quade has the right to make his own decisions - maybe the run of injuries might increase the desire for a bigger contract.
It would be a shame for Australian rugby if he left though.
Tangawizi
Peter Fenwicke (45)
The respect part to me says he was actually pretty pissed about being overlooked for the Captaincy and Vice-Captaincy. Probably thinking I've played 100 games vs this other bloke who's played none........
I'm at the stage now where I'm thinking a 2009 style "freshening up" of the Board/Management is required
redstragic
Alan Cameron (40)
Anyone get a reply yet from the QRU with the Ruggo style emails we sent them? I haven't yet.
T
TOCC
Guest
I think if Quade were playing in Cheikas team then there's a possibility that Cheika may rate him a higher re-signing priority due to greater exposure and belief in Quade's ability.
Likewise 2 years ago Link was more inclined to select Reds players because he had won a championship with them and knew how those players could/would perform and carry out the game plan he intended.
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Likewise 2 years ago Link was more inclined to select Reds players because he had won a championship with them and knew how those players could/would perform and carry out the game plan he intended.
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Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
I think you need an old fashioned Stalinist purge. To make mistakes is one thing, to refuse to acknowledge them and keep doing the same thing is another.
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Perhaps, although Cheika has made it quite clear that he rates QC (Quade Cooper) highly. If the ARU are going to do these flexible contracts, the process needs to apply across the board rather than to selected people.
Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
If its not just to selected players, how do you decide/manage who gets offered one?
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
You just treat eveyone equally. Just like anything else someone asks for in their contract negotiations.
If the Wallaby coach was putting any player who has played so little rugby in the last two years right at the top of his re-signing wishlist fans would be rightly questioning what the hell he was doing.
T
TOCC
Guest
USARugger
John Thornett (49)
Woke up a bit of a cynic today, eh? If he's leaving it has nothing to do with the ARU and everything to do the the Reds/QRU.
It's not like he jumped ship when he was actually playing and still wasn't being selected or respected by the spy from the isle. If I had to wager whether the red or 'canary yellow' jersey means more to him, I'd lean towards the former.
I wouldn't want to stick around to see the (likely temporary) death of an institution I've dedicated my life to either - especially if I knew there was fuck-all I could do about the aforementioned withering and decay.
Gillys_ghost
Dave Cowper (27)
If Quade isn't offered some kind of flexible contract such as Foley's then something is definitely up. Foley has played half the Super rugby matches, and only 18 tests, none of which he was brilliant in and very few of them we won. Quade on the other hand has over 100 caps for the reds and over 50 for the wallabies where he helped steer the wallabies to their 1st Tri-Nations trophy in a decade. And its not like its Cooper's age is holding him back. Hes only 2 years older than Foley.
Teh Other Dave
Alan Cameron (40)
This all comes back to that awful term: 'rebuilding'. Cooper got his shot at the title when Berrick Barnes left and Queensland were really bottoming out.
It would be nice if we could hold on to Cooper for a season or two longer to let our young 10s grow into their bodies and avoid a situation like the late 1990s when we went through Flatley, Drahm, Mandrusiak, and Spooner after Lynagh's retirement, but professional rugby is a business, and in the same way that the QRU doesn't need to show loyalty to Cooper, he doesn't have to show loyalty to the QRU.
It would be nice if we could hold on to Cooper for a season or two longer to let our young 10s grow into their bodies and avoid a situation like the late 1990s when we went through Flatley, Drahm, Mandrusiak, and Spooner after Lynagh's retirement, but professional rugby is a business, and in the same way that the QRU doesn't need to show loyalty to Cooper, he doesn't have to show loyalty to the QRU.
Westie
Sydney Middleton (9)
Outside of North Sydney, nothing is about the tahs.
Sandpit Fan
Nev Cottrell (35)
Not a single word from them.
USARugger
John Thornett (49)
When was the last time Foley barely played any rugby for two years? The ARU aren't exactly going to be flush with cash until the next TV deal goes through, so they may be hedging their bet.
Even after the TV deal goes through, what's to say the NRL haven't opened the floodgates with their super secret cash reserves and blown out the market for player salaries domestically by that point?
Based on the recent financial report regarding the French Top 14 clubs, many of them will either have folded in on themselves entirely or be scooped up by even larger sponsors for pennies on the dollar by 2016-18 - which could even further distort the club v. country issue there. The vast majority of the clubs in the Top 14 have been in an arms race, purchasing players they can't report with money they don't have. Some of the losses they posted over the last year were staggering. They've taken on huge amounts of risk with this strategy and unless they grow their brands/business to compensate, the bubble will collapse.
Maybe the solution for the ARU's fan-based woes is to negotiate cheap and easy immigration for French rugby fans from every club other than Toulon and Clermont. If they can put up with the fucking garbage the Top 14 regularly serves up, they'd be some of the best fans an Australian Super Rugby franchise could wish for
TL;DR - There's a lot of serious stuff in play that's going to unfold over the next 2-3 years that could play a major role in the financial state of the ARU both in absolute terms and their ability to offer player salaries relative to the future market.
I'm as big of a QC (Quade Cooper) fanboy (he's at least 60% of the reason I stuck with this sport and am on this forum right now, when you boil things down) as anyone but it may just be pure pragmatism based on the financial state of the union and the $ that Cooper would command.
Also, didn't Cheika just come out and drape heaps of praise over QC (Quade Cooper) in one of your press publications? Not that he's the end-all-be-all of who gets a top-up (honestly, not entirely sure who the arbiters of that are), but if he has any say in it at all I doubt there's some kind of NSW conspiracy at play. If he's anything, Cheika is insufferably pragmatic (not that it's a bad thing).
Me either. I'll be on a train for a bit tomorrow night - they'll be receiving another.
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