Andrew Slack: Stephen Moore’s retirement call gives Quade Cooper food for thought

ANDREW SLACK: Stephen Moore’s retirement call has provided Quade Cooper with some food for thought if he wishes to be in the position where he dictates when he’s ready to walk away.

Wallabies and Reds player Quade Cooper. Picture: Tara Croser.

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STEPHEN Moore looks likely to leave the international stage at a time of his own choosing. He has to negotiate the Rugby Championship and one final European tour but, injury aside, it is now pretty short odds he’ll go out on his terms.

Quade Cooper has ground to make up if he wishes to ever be in the position where he dictates when he’s ready to walk away.

Both Moore and Cooper share the fact that they began their representative careers playing for the Reds, and at different times and different ways have each made significant contributions to the code in Australia.

That may be where the similarities start and end, because they are chalk and cheese in just about any other category you wish to name.

As individuals, they are the grafter and the grand master, the collector and the conductor, the unsung and the star turn.

Quade Cooper needs to come to the game sometimes, rather than trying to ensure the game comes to him.

It is interesting to consider then if Moore’s retirement announcement has provided Cooper with some food for thought as to whether it might be worthwhile for him to consider a bit more collecting and grafting and a little less of the spotlight.

Flyhalves will generally attract more acknowledgment than the man in the middle of the scrum but whatever the position, every player can refine what he brings to the team.

Had selection for the national squad for the Rugby Championship been based purely on form during the Super Rugby tournament, I doubt either Moore or Cooper would have been chosen.

In a spluttering Reds outfit, neither has been able to exert the influence that would have been hoped for, but Moore has proven that he can turn his form around.

There are, of course, the unseen elements that a man of Moore’s experience can bring to a team, regardless of the minutes he plays. He is a standard setter.

However much time he actually has left in hand-to-hand combat, the one thing everyone in the Wallaby setup knows is that he’ll continue to contribute.

Wallabies trio Quade Cooper, Eto Nabuli and Stephen Moore. Picture: AFP

Does Cooper, who could easily have four or five seasons left at the highest level, believe that he has a lot of improvement in his game?

Can he display the capacity to be a decisive figure in any conditions?

It appears he always wants to inflict his own style on proceedings but the truly great No. 10s adapt. He’s got to come to the game sometimes, rather than trying to ensure the game comes to him.

In fairness to Cooper’s performances this year, it looked apparent he was rarely 100 per cent fit, and if there is one misconception about him, it is about his physical fortitude. He is tough.

Even his greatest detractors can’t dispute his talents, and with the greatest respect to Moore’s own set of skills, given a choice of watching the best Cooper can bring to the table as opposed to the best Moore has to offer, I think the majority of entertainment seekers in the crowd would opt for an “on” night from the flyhalf.

It’s a few of the attributes of his old teammate, however, that Cooper would do well to study and indeed copy. By doing that, he may one day be able to write a similar farewell script that Moore has delivered.

Originally published as Andrew Slack: Stephen Moore’s retirement call gives Quade Cooper food for thought