Urgent talks to convince Quade Cooper to stay
* Peter Badel
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* August 14, 2010 12:00AM
Speaking exclusively with The Daily Telegraph last night, Parramatta boss Paul Osborne confirmed holding talks with Cooper's management and is ready to table a formal offer if the Queensland playmaker is genuine in his desire to test himself in the NRL.
Desperate to keep the playmaker in their ranks, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans yesterday phoned Cooper to spruik the benefits of staying loyal with the 2011 World Cup campaign on the horizon.
But while Cooper is tipped to remain in rugby, Eels powerbrokers have stepped up attempts to orchestrate the most significant Wallaby defection since the 15-a-side code went professional in 1996.
Less than 16 hours before speaking with Deans, Cooper met with Osborne and Eels chairman Roy Spagnolo at a Brisbane pub.
The ace up Parramatta's sleeve was Hayne, who has struck up a friendship with Cooper via Twitter and attended the dinner to pitch the merits of a code switch.
While ARU boss John O'Neill is confident Cooper will re-sign in the coming weeks, Osborne last night broke his silence to declare the club wanted the Reds utility if he was serious about quitting rugby.
"If he's fair dinkum, we'd love to have him here," Osborne said. "I want to make it clear we're not interested in being used as leverage against the ARU.
"But if he wants to play rugby league, we'd make Quade an offer.
"We're more than interested, but he really needs to make a decision on whether he wants to play league or union."
Cooper, who has played 16 Tests, said last night he still had a lot to achieve in rugby and was leaning towards staying with the ARU.
But with the classy playmaker left dissatisfied by the ARU's initial top-up component on a two-year deal, Cooper could find a bumper offer from the Eels difficult to refuse.
"I've always had [league] in the back of my mind because I like watching league and I loved playing it," he said.
"But at the same time I've enjoyed rugby and I haven't really achieved too much in the game as yet that I want to achieve.
"I have been chased a little bit [by league clubs before] but at the same time it's pretty hard to leave when you haven't achieved anything."
Deans and ARU boss John O'Neill held urgent phone calls with Cooper yesterday to try to convince him to ignore NRL riches and prove himself a rugby superstar at the 2011 World Cup.
"But in the long run, the money is irrelevant," Deans said. "It's about what do you want to do with your life? You get one life, and he is just getting started. I would be very surprised if he was to walk away from that for some dollars, because when you hit 90, you want to be able to look back and say I did all the things I wanted to do."It will have very little to do with how many dollars you have in the bank. Either way [rugby or league] he will have that probably anyway."
