Wallabies star Quade Cooper conducting talks with Parramatta Eels

[travelling_gerry]

Wallabies star Quade Cooper conducting talks with Parramatta Eels

By Peter Badel and Andrew Hamilton
August 13, 2010 Wallabies star Quade Cooper is conducting negotiations with NRL club Parramatta and considering a code switch as a result of reported unhappiness with his ARU contract offer.
In a bombshell that will rock the Australian Rugby Union, Cooper is contemplating walking out on the code at season's end after his management flew to Sydney last week for talks with Eels boss Paul Osborne.

Osborne refused to comment but it is understood that Queensland playmaker Cooper and his manager Richard Colreavy have spoken with the Eels CEO.

At the core of Cooper's concerns is a two-year top-up offer from the ARU. The offer is so unpalatable that the 22-year-old is prepared to turn his back on the Wallabies' 2011 World Cup campaign.

Cooper verbally agreed to a two-year deal with the Reds in June, but the ARU component of his contract has yet to be sealed, which means he is technically a free agent.

The loss of Cooper would be a devastating blow for the Wallabies and coach Robbie Deans, who is building Australia's Cup campaign around Cooper's attacking wizardry.

Cooper was tight-lipped when contacted last night but revealed he has thought about playing in the NRL.

"I can't say too much," said Cooper, who goes into Wallabies camp next week after serving a two-match suspension. "I enjoy watching the NRL and wouldn't rule it out.

"Right now, I'm playing rugby, that's my focus. I don't know what's going on there (negotiations with the Eels). It's been a tough two weeks for me being suspended, so I just want to get back on the field."

Asked if he harboured a desire to be a dual international, Cooper said: "It's too much to be thinking about being a dual international but any footballer who has the opportunity to do it would think about it.

"I'm concentrating on playing for the Wallabies and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks in South Africa."

Cooper's manager declined to comment last night. But it is understood Colreavy will continue talks with the Eels over the next week.

Parramatta sensation Hayne is seen as a crucial bargaining chip because he and Cooper have struck up a friendship via Twitter.

The Eels could do with some attacking spark at the scrumbase after coach Daniel Anderson yesterday dropped young playmaker Daniel Mortimer, who has struggled to maintain his form in his second NRL season.

The Eels have been searching in vain for a senior mentor for Mortimer, launching unsuccessful attempts to lure Trent Barrett, Brett Kimmorley, Cooper Cronk, Matt Orford and even Brent Sherwin.

Former Wallabies coach John Connolly said that Cooper, who has had burglary charges withdrawn following mediation in July, would be a revelation in the NRL.

"He is a rugby league player through and through," Connolly said. "He'd be very successful in the NRL.

"The challenge for him would be to tighten up his defence. But he is a very talented young man who can be a success in both codes.

"He would be a great five-eighth in rugby league. He's a good distributor and he's got the attacking game to test defences."

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html

[Garfiep]

Just like he was coming west to play with Rabbit - another non story, Quade will stay with the reds

[zimeric]

he'd be kidding himself if he thinks he'll get more money from the NRL.. however on the offchance he does leave for the money.. then good riddance!

[palitu]

shitty reporting...

i din't even need to read it...

[jargan83]

I assume he is negotiating with the Parra-doesn't-matta Eels in order to get an improved offer from the ARU

[The InnFORCEr]

In other twitter news Matt Giteau has stuck a relationship with The Whole Force and is set to take over as Cheif Moderator

[TOCC]

gee up

[beige]

Just the "any excuse to sh*t all over rugby/f*** the NRL's awesome" mentality of the eastern states press...

[Burgs]

ARU rubbishes Cooper switch reports

Updated August 13, 2010 12:49:00

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

News Limited say Cooper has had held secret negotiations with the Parramatta Eels, 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 woke up this morning to read the news and I'm not sure how accurate the reporting has been," O'Neill said.

"We already had a meeting with his agent scheduled today. 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]."

-AAP

[jazza93]

Just trying to raise his market value. Theres nothing wrong with getting a quote from other clubs to pressure the ARU or whatever they are trying, giteau did the same thing with overseas clubs last year and the media jumped on it. But seeing as the parramatta boss "refused to comment" means that he was well out of their price range, or there wasn't even any talks. (more likely)

[Woody]

ARU rubbishes Cooper switch reports



"We woke up this morning to read the news and I'm not sure how accurate the reporting has been," O'Neill said."

-AAP

OMG John and Robbie are sleeping together. Propped up in bed, I wonder who gets to read the sports section first.
Robbie might have done a couple of sheep back here but never anything homosexual. Bloody backs aye? You just never know!

[travelling_gerry]

Cooper gamble not worth it for ARU

* Brett Harris
* From: The Australian
* August 14, 2010 12:00AM


THERE is an irony in Dan Vickerman re-signing with Australian rugby on the day Quade Cooper is considering an offer from the Parramatta Eels.

THERE is a certain irony in Dan Vickerman re-signing with Australian rugby on the same day it was revealed Quade Cooper is considering an offer from NRL team Parramatta Eels.

Vickerman will return to Australia next year to bid for selection in the Wallabies' World Cup squad after spending three years studying economics at the University of Cambridge.

But if the ARU had conducted its negotiations with Vickerman differently in 2008, he may well have remained in Australia and deferred his studies until he had completed his rugby career.

Sources close to Vickerman say the difference between what he was asking for and what the ARU offered was only about $20,000, but the reason the negotiation broke down was not because of money. It was about respect -- or the lack of it.

As a senior member of the Wallabies and one of the best players in the world in his position, Vickerman did not feel the ARU valued him sufficiently.

How much more could the Wallabies have achieved over the past 2 1/2 years if Vickerman was in the team?

If not a Bledisloe Cup or Tri-Nations victory, Australia almost certainly would have broken its run of nine straight losses to the All Blacks with Vickerman in the side. The Vickerman story is a salutary lesson for the ARU when it continues its negotiations with Cooper.

It is understood the ARU has offered Cooper only a $100,000 top-up to his Super rugby contract with Queensland Reds, which means he will probably earn about $250,000 to $270,000 a season.

Even if Reds benefactor, mining magnate Kevin Maloney, provides a third-party endorsement, the package will still be considerably less than what the cashed-up Eels can offer.

ARU chief executive John O'Neill is right when he describes the 22-year-old Cooper as a "rising star", but in the rugby public's consciousness he is already a superstar.

O'Neill suggested Cooper was yet to fully prove himself because he had not played a Test against the All Blacks.

It will be interesting to see how Cooper and his management react to that assessment of his worth.

Cooper was the Australian Super 14 Player of the Year and generally credited as being a key figure in the Reds' renaissance.

Until he was suspended for a dangerous tackle in the Wallabies' 30-17 win against the Springboks in Brisbane a few weeks ago, Cooper was the first-choice five-eighth, having forced Matt Giteau to inside centre and Berrick Barnes to the reserves bench.

There is now a view that the Wallabies cannot win the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand without Cooper at five-eighth.

That would make him a fairly valuable commodity.

Some people are sceptical about Cooper's interest in switching to rugby league and think his manager is just trying to bump up his price.

This may well be the case, but the ARU would be silly to think Cooper does not have genuine options.

Cooper could play rugby league, join a rich European or Japanese rugby club or even move to the Western Force to secure a lucrative third-party endorsement.

He is young enough to play in the next two World Cups after 2011.

O'Neill said yesterday he hoped to conclude negotiations with Cooper before the Wallabies embarked on a two-Test tour of South Africa on Friday, which indicated the ARU would be prepared to make concessions.

The last thing the ARU wants to do is call Cooper's bluff, because he is holding all the aces.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225905092526

[Burgs]

Cue TIF with "If's and But's" quote:

[GIGS20]

* Brett Harris

How much more could the Wallabies have achieved over the past 2 1/2 years if Vickerman was in the team?

Quite a bit, we need a competent backup for Sharpie. Kev has developed a lot in Viks' absence though, I'm not sure how the study has affected his rugby, but there's a real possibility that Vickerman could be fighting with Horwill for a start in 2011

Cooper could play rugby league, join a rich European or Japanese rugby club or even move to the Western Force to secure a lucrative third-party endorsement.

Wrong club Bret, the Brumbies are now the cashed up third party merchants! Quade would come West for the respect, not the money!

[Burgs]

Or he could have blown a knee in his very next match Gigs