Quade Cooper's career back on track as Ewen McKenzie shows his faith

EWEN McKenzie has been cast as the forgiving father figure, welcoming the prodigal son of Australian rugby back into the fold.

Quade Cooper back on track

IN the twisting tale of Quade Cooper's career, Ewen McKenzie has been cast as the forgiving father figure, welcoming the prodigal son of Australian rugby back into the fold.

And when the head coach made the surprising announcement that Cooper would be his vice-captain for the Cook Cup Test against England on Sunday morning (AEDT), it was the equivalent of killing the fatted calf, a celebration of the wayward five-eighth's rehabilitation.

If McKenzie caused a shock by removing the captaincy from James Horwill, the totemic lock, the decision to make Cooper vice-captain to Ben Mowen was perhaps an even bigger surprise. For much of his career, Cooper has not exactly been marked out as head-boy material, straying into alcohol-fuelled trouble and then, last year, being cast out by Robbie Deans, the head coach at the time, and spending 11 months out of international rugby.

In practical terms, the vice-captaincy may not amount to much, but it confirms that Cooper, one of the game's most gifted playmakers, has convinced McKenzie that the changes he has made are for good. "Everyone can make a change for a week or two, but it's more than 12 months now that he's been on that journey," McKenzie said.

At the team hotel in London yesterday, Cooper spoke of how taking up boxing had helped to introduce a greater discipline to his life. He has also been shaken into a broader view of the world, he said, through his responsibilities to his two younger brothers, Reuben, 14, and Moses, 11, both budding five-eighthss.

"When I think about how much they look up to everything I do, I want to set a good example," he said. "How you act as a family man, as a person, those things roll along into how you act as a player, because the team is pretty much an extended family. Your team-mates are your brothers and the coaches are like your parents. You don't want to let them down."

Cooper has, perhaps, been fortunate that Deans was succeeded by the coach who knows him better than anyone. From 2010 until this year, McKenzie had been in charge of the Reds, building the Queensland team around the half-back combination of Cooper and Will Genia and putting his five-eighth back on the rails when he threatened to slip off.

Like many a forgiving parent, McKenzie yesterday attributed some of Cooper's troubles to malign influences around him. "You've got to recognise who adds value to your life and who doesn't," McKenzie said.

"In the shiny world of professional sport, there are lots of people who can get involved and don't add any value. When things are going well, they're all there and, when things are not going so well, they're nowhere to be seen. He's had some pretty low times, but I think he's realised now the people who are there to help and care for him."

In September last year, Cooper was ostracised from the Wallabies squad after describing the environment presided over by Deans as "toxic". That single five-letter word scored highly on the Scrabble board of Australian sporting opinion and Deans never quite managed to shake the label off.

It would be another 11 months before Cooper wore the gold shirt again, returning as a replacement for the first two internationals under McKenzie, then regaining the No10 shirt from Matt Toomua. His return has not been an unqualified success, but there has been a sense of steady improvement and his best performance came in the 41-33 defeat by New Zealand in Dunedin 13 days ago.

While Cooper has benefited from McKenzie's paternal promptings in recent times, the head coach's ruthless side was also in evidence yesterday. Horwill, when fit, has been captain of the Wallabies since 2011 and led the Reds to the Super Rugby title under McKenzie in 2011. But if Rob Simmons, his fellow lock, had not been injured, Horwill might well have been dropped, a fate Genia suffered during the Rugby Championship.

James O'Connor, meanwhile, was thrown out of the Wallabies squad for his off-field misbehaviour. From Cooper's return to favour, perhaps O'Connor can take inspiration.

"I've been in that position, out of the team, and you have a lot of time to think about what's important," Cooper said. "It might be a good opportunity for James to change something in his life."

It is spectators who suffer the most when talents such as Cooper and O'Connor are led astray. The return of Cooper in the pivotal position, with his quick feet and wonderful vision, is particularly welcome in a world where coaches are increasingly inclined to the conservative option in the No10 shirt.

"Quade can play either way, but we like to aim at the higher end and, if you then have to be a bit more conservative, you can always come back down," McKenzie said. "It suits the motivation of the players, they get more excited. It's got to be fun to go to work."

The Times