Quade Cooper has broken his silence on Eddie Jones and his Wallabies axing, as well as Jones’ return to Japan and Australia’s disappointing World Cup campaign.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, Cooper sensed his exclusion from the final squad and acknowledged the challenging aspect of a coach’s decision-making process.
He sympathised with the younger players thrust into tough situations at France 2023, and questioned the axing of Dave Rennie as head coach eight months before the tournament.
“That was one of the things I struggled with in these last six months leading into the World Cup was we didn’t really have a plan,” Cooper said.
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“We had some great communication and talking around the game, but when you go into a game with no real plan or structure and no system, that makes it really difficult as a playmaker.
“Key individuals around Eddie lacked significant expertise. As players, we tried to buy into what he was preaching, as not doing so would paint us as a detriment. However, common sense was hard to ignore, and it was remarkable that Rugby Australia couldn’t see it.”
Reflecting on the day the squad was announced, the veteran playmaker criticised the lack of personal communication from Jones.
The conversation also delved into Jones’ late-night attempts to reach Cooper and his subsequent claim that Quade didn’t answer the calls. Cooper confirmed the calls but defended his decision, emphasising the need for a more considerate approach in delivering such news.
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“To be honest, I just felt I wasn’t going to go. I just had a sense. You can read people’s energy,” he said. “I felt more for the guys who I knew might not be able to handle that as well as I did.
“There needs to be an element of care from the coaches, like a phone call or doing it in person. I don’t know what the best process is, but just some care towards those guys would be all they would ask for.”
On the reported secret interviews between Jones and the Brave Blossoms during the World Cup, the Japan-based Cooper added: “It was interesting because a lot of the Japanese players here said, ‘Oh, this is quite old’. They all knew about it. They were like, ‘You guys didn’t know about it?’
“We were like, ‘Nah, this is crazy, we’re just hearing about it’. It was only a few weeks earlier that I was in Wallabies camp. Some of the things asked from a commitment standpoint … that raised a lot of questions [in hindsight].”
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