Wallabies and Queensland Reds star Quade Cooper has reportedly been charged by police after he allegedly robbed a residence on the Gold Coast on Sunday morning.
Cooper was released from Southport watchhouse on Sunday afternoon, charged with one count of burglary.
A police media spokesman said a 21-year-old man had been charged with one count of burglary of a residence in Surfers Paradise.
He is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on December 11.
Cooper recently returned from a breakthrough Wallabies tour, where he played all four Tests in Australia’s Grand Slam quest.
A Queensland Rugby Union spokesman declined to comment as the matter was before the courts.
Asked if Cooper would be stood down, the QRU spokesman replied: “We’ve got to establish the full facts of the matter before we can decide what action if any action will be taken.”
UPDATE: Quade Cooper’s law firm has released a media statement. In it, they state:
“This firm has been retained to act on behalf of Quade Cooper in relation to the charge against him alleging that he committed an offence of burglary on the Gold Coast over the weekend.
Given that Quade has been charged and the matter is before the Court, we are limited in what we can say on Quade’s behalf about the cicrumstances giving rise to the alleged offence.
Similarly, as much as he would like to, Quade is unable to make any comments to the media about the circumstances.
However, we can say that the investigations that need to be undertaken in this matter are far from concluded and it would be unfair for anyone to pre-judge Quade or to speculate as to what in fact happened both prior to and at the time of the alleged offence. Quade, like everyone else, is entitled to have the circumstances fully investigated and, if the matter progresses to that point, entitled to a fair trial.”
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December 7th 2009 @ 9:50am
Pete said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:50am | Report comment
absolutely bizzare… why Quade why?
December 7th 2009 @ 9:53am
ob said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:53am | Report comment
Lets wait and see… but if there’s anything to this it is truely bizarre. At $11 000 a test, what could possibly have motivated him to steal? Does a lack of motive imply criminal pathology? Lets hope this is all a big misunderstanding.
December 7th 2009 @ 10:00am
mahony said | December 7th 2009 @ 10:00am | Report comment
I would have thought this deserved about 4 front pages in the Terror – sorry, my mistake – that treatment is reserved for another code.
December 7th 2009 @ 10:05am
Ryan said | December 7th 2009 @ 10:05am | Report comment
Unbelievable, there must be some story we are not aware of yet. He must be on a couple of hundred thousand a year, what possible reason would he have to nick a laptop. I thought professional footballers could no longer surprise me but this is out of left field.
December 7th 2009 @ 10:32am
Rickety Knees said | December 7th 2009 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Sadly the professional environment is also to blame. These guys are only taught about football not about life skills, or about their place in the Australian community (a responsibility they have whether they like it or not) nor are they taught to value what they have. They are treated like rock stars and live in a highly controlled pressure cooker team environment. When these guys are unshackled, combined with alcohol and the opportunity – just about anything can happen.
The immaturity of Cooper and his propensity to sabotage his life has been evident from food fights and smashing taxi windows, these were very clear signs that all was not well with him. It is now obvious that nobody in his professional environment took much notice.
I’m with Sheek and Brett – IMO a criminal conviction should result in Cooper’s contract being cancelled and the ARU/QRU be also admonished for failing the him. After all he is still only 21.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:20am
reds fan said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:20am | Report comment
Rickety, he was given a private mentor after the cab incident. One Tim Horan no less. The Reds were doing their best.
This is a very disappointing incident.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:23am
Rickety Knees said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:23am | Report comment
Sorry to get that news RF – Cooper has some very hard lessons to learn.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:39am
Rickety Knees said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:39am | Report comment
What is more perturbing is that according to the Tele he “kicked the door in” – which, if true, suggests that he has anger management issues and needs to be educated in emotional intelligence.
December 7th 2009 @ 1:02pm
reds fan said | December 7th 2009 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
The report says the door was kicked in and laptops are missing, and that they are searching for an accomplice. Facts of exactly what Quade did are yet to be determined. Stupid stupid boy.
Looks like Ben Lucas will be our starting 10. We’ll probably have to roll out Morgan as our 12…. oh lord….
December 7th 2009 @ 2:17pm
Joe4Canberra said | December 7th 2009 @ 2:17pm | Report comment
Rickety: I take your point about immature guys being thrown into the environment of professional football and not being in the kind of environment where other people their age learn about life skills. But seriously what about the life skills he should have learnt in his first 18 years of life before becoming a professional footy player? You would hope that they would prepare someone so that you would never contemplate breaking into someone else’s house — not even if you’re blind drunk.
December 7th 2009 @ 3:33pm
Cattledog said | December 7th 2009 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
Sorry Rickety, but whilst I agree with much of your sentiment (which I have already outlined) your comment regarding still only 21 doesn’t hold water with me. We have young men of 18 plus at war making decisions on peoples lives. Whilst you may argue they have the training, you would think at 21 the training was there to make the decisions he made in a benign environment. I have a 20yo and he would no more consider behaviour like that than fly the moon. He’s also played against Quade at schoolboy level and he is shocked at both the news and alleged behaviour.
Unfortunately, this 3 strikes crap doesn’t hold water with me either. Perhaps if we are talking about minor incidents, but this cannot be considered minor. If proven, it should be game over!
December 7th 2009 @ 8:04pm
ohtani's jacket said | December 7th 2009 @ 8:04pm | Report comment
A number of players from the amateur era ended up being criminals. I don’t think it has much to do with professionalism.
December 7th 2009 @ 10:54am
Bay35Pablo said | December 7th 2009 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Until we get the full story, we are all just speculating.
Why can I see some bizarre “I was drunk and thought it was my house …” tale coming out. But that’s my speculation.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:37am
The Answer said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Yes, indeed ‘I thought it was mine house’
“I thought it was my house but I couldn’t recognise any of the furniture so I decided to go through it all and see if I could recognise some of the contents of the cupboard to see if anything refreshed my memory of a previous shopping trip. I then decided to take all the expensive items from the house and return to a shop and ask them if they remembered me buying them.”
So now, if you survive a night out by avoiding league players in the pub you just have to hope a Wallaby isn’t going through your drawers at home.
What a great message to the general public “we won’t be sacking any Wallaby if they are proven guilty of B&E if it isn’t his third offence.” Some of you blokes are kidding yourselves.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:00am
Worlds Biggest said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:00am | Report comment
This is unbelievable if he has committed the crime, rugby has taken a battering this year and to finish off in this manner makes me bloody p&ssed off. His sometimes grubby tactics on the field have now crossed over to personal life. WTF was he thinking ??. He had a great tour, his star was shining and comes out and does this ??. It just beggars belief. Didn’t he go to school at Churchie ?. Hardly a rough & tumble education and refining. Maybe he hangs out with a bad posse. If convicted JON will rip up his contract in a nano second.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:08am
mattamkII said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Silly boy, will be interesting
December 7th 2009 @ 11:28am
Rickety Knees said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:28am | Report comment
“boy” is the operative word. The big question is will he ever grow up?
December 7th 2009 @ 11:25am
CliffyTahTah said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:25am | Report comment
In the Tele it says that Cooper was caught with a laptop and had to be held down with pepper spray.
There must be something else to this story (i hope). Otherwise it is very disapointing.
December 7th 2009 @ 11:39am
The Answer said | December 7th 2009 @ 11:39am | Report comment
Yeah maybe he just wanted to skype his manager.
December 7th 2009 @ 12:22pm
Brett McKay said | December 7th 2009 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
just needed to track his Dominos order….
December 7th 2009 @ 12:12pm
Who Needs Melon said | December 7th 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
Sure Quade has had a few brain explosions on the field in the past but I always said he had the best hands in the business.
Next move? A few years playing overseas till the heat dies down? Or to the Brumbies where he can be mentored by some senior players?
Sorry to make light but this is f**ked up. After such a promising tour you felt he was just starting to climb from being a flawed talent towards being a guy with a real future. There are worse things he could have done… but on a sheer stupidity scale this is a 10.
And yeah – I know – I’ll wait until the facts come out.
December 7th 2009 @ 3:29pm
sheek said | December 7th 2009 @ 3:29pm | Report comment
WNM,
“….. but I always said he had the best hands in the business.”
Errr, are you referring to Cooper’s rugby skills or safe-cracking skills?????
December 7th 2009 @ 5:30pm
Who Needs Melon said | December 7th 2009 @ 5:30pm | Report comment
That was my attempt at a joke. Sorry sheek. It’s the shotgun approach. I hit every now and then.