The most toxic quote
Seldom has one player polarised the rugby fraternity like Quade Cooper did this year.
The mercurial flyhalf was eventually fine and made to apologise for his 'toxic' quote, but it remains to be seen if he will 'kiss and make up' with Wallaby coach Robbie Deans.
Here's a quick year-end recap of what the injured Cooper had to say about Australian rugby:
On Twitter:
"I love rugby but there's s—t going on behind and above the players [that affects] the whole organisation!" Cooper said in one of his tweets.
When a Twitter follower told Cooper he should be allowed to play in his trademark exciting manner, the Reds No.10 responded with an apparent shot at Deans' conservative tactics.
"I am allowed from February to May sir," Cooper said, in reference to his Super Rugby season under Reds coach Ewen McKenzie.
"If people want to go out there and play a boring brand of football then there's other guys they can pick to do that."
In an interview:
Cooper later said the tweets were not solely an attack on Deans but on the whole Wallabies/ARU set-up – players, selectors, officials and coaches – which he claimed was not as professional as the last year's Super Rugby champions Queensland Reds.
"There's a lot of people who are afraid to say what they feel so they just go along with it and nothing is going to change," Cooper said.
"That's why I feel so strongly as a player. I don't want to be involved in the toxic environment, and that's how it is at the moment.
"It's an environment where things aren't going according to plan and everyone is looking to point the finger.
''I feel that that environment is destroying me as a person and as a player, so that I can't do the best that I can do to represent my country and my family and my friends, to the best of my ability.''
