Cooper’s replacement

QUEENSLAND’S divorce from Quade Cooper is final, with the Reds signing 2011 title-winner Jono Lance as an experienced option at flyhalf for next month’s Super Rugby lift-off.

Lance, 27, has little of Cooper’s panache and deception as a No.10 but he is a solid type who has grown significantly as a playmaker since he last played for the Reds in 2013.

By signing utility back Ben Lucas and now Lance over the past week, new Reds coach Brad Thorn has added depth around the No.10 where classy Coast youngster Hamish Stewart, 19, is learning.

While Thorn made the call to move on from Cooper in November, the rugby public struggled to see it as definitive when no obvious replacement existed.