Quade mates speaking out

QUADE Cooper is too good a player for Australian rugby to lose, according to Wallabies star Kurtley Beale.

But Cooper’s Queensland Reds teammate James Slipper reckons the exiled playmaker will be inundated with offers from overseas and has earned the right to do whatever he wants in the next phase of his football journey.

Cooper’s career is at a crossroads after he was told last week by new Reds coach Brad Thorn that he wasn’t in his plans for 2018.