Cheika speaks out over Cooper's $650,000 Reds limbo

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is hoping Rugby Australia can find a solution after Quade Cooper was deemed surplus to requirements by the Queensland Reds, despite still being under contract with the Super Rugby franchise. 

Cooper has two years left to run on the deal he signed with the Reds and the ARU – now called Rugby Australia – in 2016 after leaving Top 14 side Toulon.

But the 29-year-old fly-half, who has remained involved with the national team under Cheika, was told by Reds coach Brad Thorn he is no longer needed, leaving him training with Brisbane club Souths and potentially set to spend the 2018 Super Rugby season in limbo. 

Cheika, though, hopes an outcome can be reached that benefits all parties.

“I think there’s ways out, there’s ways we can turn that negative into a positive,” he told a press conference on Friday.

“It’s just about getting it done.”

Of Cooper’s mentality after being rejected by former All Black Thorn, Cheika added: “It’s not an easy thing – that would not be an easy thing for him to be dealing with.

“As a footballer that’s not nice when your coach says, ‘We don’t want you’.

“How he decides to react from that now given a bit of time, I think that’ll be the time where it’s about saying, ‘Okay, how are we going to deal with that?’

“[We] just can’t sit around and hope we get an outcome, let’s try and make something happen.”