Under pressure: Quade Cooper
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Wallabies and Reds captain James Horwill has urged team-mate Quade Cooper to let his playing do the talking in 2013.
Cooper hit the headlines for the wrong reasons last year when he claimed that the Wallabies camp had become a 'toxic environment' on Twitter.
The outburst earned the controversial fly-half a $60,000 fine from the ARU and threatened to end his Test career before he finally signed a new Wallabies contract after a much-publicised row with the governing body.
"Whether he needs to earn respect from other people (I'm not sure) but you let your actions do the talking and Quade's very big on that," Horwill told Sportal.
"He needs to make sure he keeps performing the way he can and we all know he can because he is a world-class player and someone who's got some freakish ability that a lot of people in the world would be pretty envious of.
"Quade for us at the Reds has always been the guy that's always turned up and been very proud and worked hard to play for Queensland, so I can't fault him in that sense."
Horwill said he can't question the 24-year-old's commitment to the Reds' pre-season preparations even though he made his professional boxing debut last weekend.
"Quade's been excellent, he hasn't missed a session, he's trained extremely hard, he's obviously in very good shape physically," he added.
"Any time you have injuries and interruptions to your year it's frustrating and that happened to him obviously last year and he might have struggled with that a bit.
"But he's been fit, he's been training, he's been running, doing everything and you can see that he's really enjoying being out there so I'm expecting Quade to be Quade and do what he does best."
Horwill also revealed how disappointed he is to miss the Reds season opener against the Brumbies with an ankle injury after nine months on the sidelines with a serious hamstring injury.
"It's a little bit frustrating obviously with the long lay-off that we've had and everything was sort of tracking the way we had planned it but unfortunately a little hiccup happened," he said.
"Unfortunately that's sport so you've just got to get the ankle better and get back as soon as I can."
Horwill said he has made a full recovery from the hamstring injury and is confident he can get back to his best this season.
"It's been really good, we did a lot of stuff to really test it out and check that it can withstand what is needs too," he revealed.
"I'm happy with my fitness, obviously there's no duplicate for match fitness so I might be a bit short of a run.
"Going into the season is obviously not ideal but it's the cards we've been dealt so we've just got to get on with it and do what we can."
Comments
rugby_rockstar says...
As a neutral, (unless Oz are playing Eng)
I think he's hugely entertaining, be it on the pitch, in front of a microphone or getting smacked about the head by all the Kiwi abuse he attracts!
Long may Quade continue to be Quade.
Posted 09:45 15th February 2013
IronManI441 says...
Horwill got it spot on. QC let his emotions get in the way of his rugby at times in the last couple of years with silly (but maybe true) outbursts and also a bit of dirty play on Richie McCaw (let's be honest though RC earns his bread playing on the edge of legal).
However the guy is a freak, his step (although a bit unorthodox) is incredible, his pace is great, his ability to create on the fly is awesome, and he is a pretty decent goal kicker. If QC or an outside influence could get QC to stay on the straight and narrow for a season he could easily take back the 10 jersey and stake a claim to being "world class".
Also agree with Greyprop that fans get a much better experience watching rogues like QC. Not everyone can be Dan Carter.
Posted 16:06 14th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@g.smith you forgot to mention n.sharpe?
Posted 15:11 14th February 2013
Greyprop says...
Really looking forward to see QC back in harness. Rugby needs mavericks like him, he has the ability to excite or annoy. The game is becoming full of big, biff, bash clones, lets have some dancing feet back in the game. It's great to see a player making it up as he gets the ball, maybe not for a coach but for a punter it's manna.
Keep on playing the piano Quade, leave the big hits to the piano pushers, lol.
Posted 07:29 14th February 2013
georgesmith says...
Q. Cooper was absolutely right with the 'toxic environment' statement. It was all due to R. Deans, who is a hopeless coach at Test level and should go back to NZ. Of course, Q. Cooper is a quality player. Heaps better than B. Barnes at least because the latter has not even won a Super Rugby title.
Posted 02:49 14th February 2013
new_j4a says...
It will be useful, all that fitness...running away from Mr Plod
Posted 21:23 13th February 2013
Trinats2 says...
All ears, let's hear the Kiwi lynch mob comments to follow..........over to you guys !!!
Posted 19:53 13th February 2013
carpelone says...
Talking about winning respect back means that Horwill is admitting that he lost it.
Spot on, James.
Posted 19:06 13th February 2013
jmanngod says...
how's he going to do that? a personality transplant? Is he going to stop commenting on things? Did he have respect before??
Posted 17:49 13th February 2013
melkdave says...
Very good advice from Horwill,QC has alot of fencesto mend not least with his wallaby team mates .Let alone with R.Deans and the ARU.Moth shut ,play well and hope he does good enough.As CL will also be looking to impress as he did last season before his injury and lets not forget JOC either.Lot of competion for that wallaby 10 jersey this season .
Posted 17:30 13th February 2013
rugbylover says...
...or kicking heads.....................
Posted 16:11 13th February 2013
KiwiKev says...
World class talent indeed...well as long as we are not talking about tackling anyone or playing defense in the 10 channel....
Posted 14:04 13th February 2013