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By Bret Harris The Australian February 28, 2012 7:52AM
Off contract ... The Force will investigate the possibility of bringing Cooper to Perth in 2013. Source: News Limited
Western Force are expected to make a bid for Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper to solve their problem at No 10 next year.
The Force lost its starting five-eighth, New Zealander Willie Ripia, when he resigned last December in disgrace after it was alleged he had been stealing from teammates.
Halfback James Stannard has stepped into the chief playmaking role, while the Force searches for a replacement for Ripia.
But if the Force could lure Cooper across the Nullabor, he would have the capacity to completely transform the team.
The Force tried to recruit Cooper last year, but he chose to stay with Queensland Reds for another season.
Cooper, however, is a close friend of Force captain David Pocock, who would love to have his old high school First XV teammate playing alongside him in Perth.
Asked whether the Force would be interested in Cooper, coach Richard Graham said: "Any time a world class No 10 is available, you have to look seriously at it."
Cooper will be out of contract at the end of the year and his options would be to stay with the Reds, go to the Force, switch to rugby league or play in Europe.
Reds coach Ewen McKenzie, who has taken over the contract negotiations at the franchise, was quietly confident Cooper would stay in Brisbane.
"I'm confident Quade is enjoying his time here and enjoying his footy," McKenzie said. "There are a lot of reasons to think he wouldn't want to change that."
A player with Cooper's sublime ball skills would make a big difference to a team like the Force, which has struggled to score tries.
The Force dominated possession in its 19-17 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday but was shaded two tries to one.
"Our forwards played really well," Graham said. "We need our backs to share the workload.
"A couple of guys who had limited opportunities, Nick Cummins and Napolioni Nalaga, did really well (on the wings). I'd like to see them involved more in open play.
"It's a mindset. On the back of our forwards' work, we want our backs to challenge defences."
Meanwhile, Melbourne Rebels have ruled out making a bid for Cooper as a replacement for English five-eighth Danny Cipriani, who is expected to join Sale Sharks at the end of the season.
Rebels chief executive Steve Boland admitted it would be tantalising to have the "Three Amigos" - Kurtley Beale, James O'Connor and Cooper in the same team - but they could not afford him.
Boland hinted that the Rebels could be interested in Brumbies inside back, Christian Lealiifano, who grew up in Melbourne.
"Christian is an excellent player," Boland said. "In general, one thing we would like to do is get players who started in Melbourne back to Melbourne.We will look at any player with Melbourne roots."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/su...-1226283505894
Doubt it will happen. But it would be interesting to see.
Would be devastating to the reds though. Copper is their new Barnes.
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I know we are desperate for a 10 but do we really want to import so much publicity and and of field rubbish He definitely ain't no ambassador for Rugby .
3 points i want to make.
1) - Pocock is also good mates with the Beagle & Judas, if my eyes dont diseve me they aren't playing in the blue of the Force..
2) - We all know the Rebels are the golden child of ARU and dont have a salary cap like all over S15 teams, plus can have the barbians of internationals in there squad, when the likes of the Force and Brumbies dont have there quota due to no backing from the ARU...
Plus Danny Cips has already started negiotations with Leciester and the Wasps so he wont be in the southern hempishere in 2012...
3) - Cooper and SBW manager is the same, both have signed a 1 year extension with there countries Rugby Board. and now over the weekend in NSW press, SBW has signed with the Sydney Roosters in the NRL for 2013. Roosters havent got a 5/8 or halfback and are loaded with coin.
Thats my speel on things, his a 100/1 chance of coming to Perth and i hope it stays that way. My money and red hot favourite is he will go to Rugby League.
Plus on saying that, as Cooper is the hatest child in New Zealand Rugby, if he goes to League he only needs to go to New Zealand once, and he can find behind the man mountain in SBW when they both play for the Roosters.
3.5 -- if Cooper comes this side of the nullabour for longer than 1 week (i.e a game) to play for the Force.Its hard for me to say, but I said it before when we targeting him and i'll say it again. "I'm supporting a different team, who I dont know"... We have enough defenders on the wing and who can TACKLE we dont need this pansy who doesn't know where to come or go (both on the field or off with $$$)
The money we would put in for Cooper, why not get the likes of Harris, or a Halanguahu or Leleifano, or out of left field from NRL ranks Cooper Cronk or Jonathan Thurston ?
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Keep him...give me Harris any dat of the week. I hope he stays with the reds so harris will look for another club...The Force. Any one know when his contract is up witht eh Reds???
“Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.
I doubt we'd be seeing all these "we don't want him" posts if the Force signing him was actually a realistic outcome.
You're saying you wouldn't cheer him on in a force shirt?
We all cheered dunning on. So we've already proven to ourselves how forgiving we are. The reds are nowhere near as bad as the tahs...
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I’m not saying that I wouldn’t cheers him on if it did eventuate but I would not be cheering on the force to go chasing him.
I think we have had to may of these kinds of players over the years after a quick buck and now it is time to change the way we go about getting players here. We don’t need a player who will play 1-2 years we need a player who will be here for the next 5-6 years to give his all. Players like Cooper aren’t that kind of guy.
But if he ever did play for the force i would still be in the stands cheering him on.
“Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.
I agree with you totally there. We need players like basically Phil Waugh and Robert Harvey, who stay until the end.
But who says we need to get one right away. Get cooped on a 2-3 year deal. And then tell Goodwin to be a sponge or he'll be out on his arse.
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I don't want Cooper over here, as any kind of mentor for Goodwin. I find him infuriating as a player to watch. How hard could it be for him to learn to make a tackle, rather than be hidden at the back or on the wing. The splashes of brilliance in attack sure are surrounded by a whole lot of brain explosions, and his teammates looking very puzzled. We thought we would be better off as the one-man Giteau show, but that didn't work. And having him as a mentor for brand O'Connor was probably the worst experiment of them all. Keep Goodwin away from him.
Plus his off field antics aren't really something we want at the force. We have enough preseason drama as it is.
I think I'd struggle cheering him on in a force jersey. I don't enjoy watching him as a rugby player, and don't want him on my team. No thankyou!
A kick in this game is like a rather nasty alcoholic shooter, only as good as it's chaser...
Courtesy of quality South African commentry
the crux of the matter
Brett Harris "So Woody, it looks like you guys pretty much suck at 10 have you thought of chasing Quade Cooper?"
Richard Graham "Haven't really put too much thought into next year since we're still finalising contracts for this year, but any time a world class 10 is available, you have to seriously look at it."
Brett Harris (Headline) Western Force chasing Quade Cooper to fix an embarrassing lack of talent at 10.
That's the way it happened, promise
C'mon the![]()
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