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The Australian Rugby Union must be running out of reasons to keep making allowances for Quade Cooper. Patience is finite.
Especially when his last dominant performance in a Wallabies jersey happened two years ago and his comeback from a bad knee injury has been slow.
His mouth is probably not the only part of his body that featured in their discussions to offer him a contract that, it has now been reported, is “substantial” but based on future Tests played.
Spitefulness from the governing body has been identified as possible motive for their actions. It is certainly possible that there might be some personal satisfaction – or relief – for some if he walked. Cooper has caused them a few headaches. But would it be the driving factor?
Probably not. Sporting organisations are often too deeply cynical to be run that way. They want to win matches, and they loosen the leash on the gifted players – and Cooper certainly is that – to make sure that happens.
They spend a lot of money and time on players they might even have reservations about on and off the field, in exchange for their magic.
Cooper himself would have accrued close to $500,000 in match payments alone over his 38 Tests to date, even though his tackling technique was such a source of concern they fiddled with their back-line structure in a World Cup year. Neither has he always represented the Wallabies jersey off the field, although he is not alone.
Yet if he had performed at the World Cup, or come out at Eden Park in Bledisloe II and opened up the All Blacks – and repeated it against South Africa and Argentina – the chances are the ARU would be giving him a guaranteed sum, taking his claims about a lack of facilities with grave seriousness and probably even listening with straight faces to demands that he boxed in the off-season.
They’d let him fight bare-knuckle in a pub cellar two weeks before the first Lions Test if they thought he was the only man who could deliver them a series win next year.
They clearly don’t. In their minds, he has simply lost his indispensability.
It’s not to say they no longer see him as in the ‘best’ 30 or so players in the country, nor want him to regain his best form. But if you were sensibly compiling a top-up list, you’d want to identify the top players in each position and allocate the available resources to those individuals.
The names of Kurtley Beale, Berrick Barnes and James O’Connor are presumably sit above Cooper in the pecking order for No.10, possibly Christian Lealifaano too. The former trio have all won Tests with their goal kicking. It is not a string Cooper has to his bow.
Throw in the likes of new entrants Michael Hooper and Nick Cummins and it does not to take long to fill out 30 names, and more.
Also, if Cooper is on a big deal in Queensland – similar to Will Genia – he might still be earning more than some Wallabies who do get guaranteed top-ups. The game pays him well.
Moreover, the most valuable man in Australian rugby last weekend was a tight-head prop. How much was a win at Twickenham worth for a side that was under siege? The men that have their spines rearranged just to win the ball deserve their share, especially as they also regularly cope with severe criticism of their own performances and take it on the chin.
There is probably another reason why the ARU has apparently structured a deal based on incentives and performances rather than a guaranteed top-up.
You don’t have to have a fertile mind to imagine a sense of resentment within the playing group if a man who had tipped the bucket on his teammates while they were on tour did not pay a price.
The fine and disciplinary action would have meant bugger all if Cooper was promptly then handed a hefty, automatic ARU deal and an implicit pathway straight back into the squad. Even the reticent might have wanted him back, but only if he was seen to earn it.
It is not a scandalous position, especially in the wake of a tough win at Twickenham at the weekend – a victory whose lustre has sadly been dimmed by this latest episode.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.