Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham says Quade Cooper is still good enough to play for Australia

WALLABIES backs coach Stephen Larkham says Quade Cooper​ should be looking at Super Rugby options other than Queensland.

Quade Cooper playing for Wests in Brisbane club rugby.

WALLABIES backs coach Stephen Larkham says Quade Cooper​ should be looking at Super Rugby options other than Queensland because the Reds aren’t budging, and the $800,000 outcast — while talented enough to return to Test rugby — won’t be selected from club footy.

Larkham also didn’t rule out the possibility of Israel Folau playing on the wing for the Wallabies in the June series against Ireland, despite​ that same switch being among the reasons he’s looking at a move from NSW to the Reds next year.

It emerged this week that Cooper, who is on the outer at Brad Thorn’s Reds, had turned down an approach to join the Brumbies​ in Canberra, ​ and informal contact with the Melbourne Rebels had also come to nothing.

SPECULATION: Tahs desperate not to lose Folau

His former Reds and Wallabies teammate Will Genia told the Daily Telegraph he’d “absolutely love” to play with Cooper​ again​ at the Rebels, but ​the 30-year-old is sticking firmly with his ​plan to force his way back into the Reds squad​ via club footy.

Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham says Quade Cooper could still play for Australia.

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Thorn has also ​said the 70-Test five-eighth is not in his plans, ​though​, and he ​made it very clear he wasn’t budging either on Wednesday by saying Cooper could leave the club.

“If there was an opportunity for Quade at another Super Rugby club, we wouldn’t stand in his way,” Thorn said.

With threadbare depth at no. 10 behind Bernard Foley, Wallabies coaches are desperate to have Cooper in the​ selection mix but Larkham said there was next-to-no chance they’d pick him from Brisbane club rugby.

The former Wallaby great said Cooper was a “magnificent player” and urged him to return to ​pursue other options available to return to Super Rugby.

“Just looking at the news in the last couple of days I guess he was holding out hope for the Reds, and I know he enjoys living in Brisbane and he certainly has a strong affinity to his club, but now that Brad has categorically sort of told everyone he is not on the radar there, I think realistically Quade should start looking at some alternatives,” Larkham said.

Quade Cooper is unwanted by Queensland.

“I guess it is up to him but I would love to see him playing Super Rugby. There is no doubt about that. I have always enjoyed my time with Quade. He is a magnificent player and I certainly want to see him playing at that next level, and then having the opportunity to play for Australia again.

“Playing club rugby, I know he is probably enjoying it and getting a lot out of it, but it is doing nothing for his aspirations to get to the next level.

I wouldn’t say it’s out of the picture (to be picked for the Wallabies from club footy) but at the moment we are looking at Super Rugby.”

Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham.

Cooper is entitled to be sceptical of such effusive praise from the Wallabies coaches given he was left out of all major squads last year, beginning with an absence from the Wallabies squad for the June series.

Reece Hodge was preferred at no. 10 against Japan, and even Reds centre Duncan Pauiaiua was picked at five-eighth for the Wallabies against a Barbarians team captained by Cooper in Sydney.

Quade Cooper playing for Wests in Brisbane club rugby.

But Larkham insisted Cooper was still good enough to play Test rugby.

“If you look at his contribution to the team on the field, there is no doubt he is good enough to play for Australia and make an impact at that level,” Larkham said.

The Wallabies assistant coach said Cooper’s situation in Queensland was heightened by the lack of experienced specialist no. 10s in Australian rugby.

Bernard Foley has a mortgage on the jersey, with Kurtley Beale and Hodge behind him. Jono Lance and ... Stewart are Thorn’s picks at Queensland, NSW have Mack Mason in the wings, Melbourne use Jack Debrecenzi and Jack Maddocks and the Brumbies have Kiwi Wharenui Hawera at no. 10.

“That’s the issue we have at the moment. We haven’t got a lot of depth there at the moment,” he said.

Larkham said he’d not seen of any of Cooper’s club rugby performances.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at it but I believe Cheik has been keeping an eye on it,” he said.

“I don’t really have to see it, knowing the character of the guy. If he had to play Super Rugby this weekend, I am sure he’d be ready for it.

Quade Cooper captained the Barbarians against the Wallabies in October last year.

“Knowing Quade, he is going to prepare himself well. It doesn’t matter what level of footy.”

Folau’s future is also in the news this week after the Daily Telegraph revealed he was talking to the Reds.

Larkham said he was hopeful of Folau remaining in Australian rugby to play in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but he stopped short of pencilling in Folau for the no. 15 jersey in June when asked if he felt fullback was still the NSW star’s best position.

“The issue at any level for him is making sure he is getting enough touches on the ball, to be influential on the game,” Larkham said.

“His record last year was pretty amazing. The goal would be to have him on the field firstly, and then to have him in a position where he is touching the ball in effective positions as much as possible.

“If he is on the wing you’d have to set scenarios up for him. If he’s at fullback, he can probably set his own scenarios up there.

“Either way, there is potential. For him though, and I know from talking to him, he just wants to get as many touches on the ball as possible.”

Originally published as Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham says Quade Cooper is still good enough to play for Australia