Just 12 months ago, Cooper was a pariah in Australian rugby, calling the environment under Robbie Deans ‘toxic’ and narrowly avoided having his contract ripped up. In the time since then, Cooper has shown remarkable maturity as he was forced to earn not only his starting place in the Wallabies back, but he had to earn the rugby public over once more. While the latter is still a work in progress, his form shown on the spring tour proved he is a much more committed player than he was in his younger days.
This season, with plenty of competition for his Wallabies place, Cooper will need to prove that he is still the man for the job. With Wallabies captain Ben Mowen leaving for a lucrative overseas deal at the end of the year, someone needs to take over and as vice-captain, Cooper will at least be in the conversation to lead his country come June when the French tour these shores.
Scott Higginbotham – Flanker (Melbourne Rebels)
Kurtley Beale – Utility Back (NSW Waratahs)
Quade Cooper – Flyhalf (Queensland Reds)
Not every player will be focusing solely on a gold jersey this season; Melbourne Rebels captain Scott Higginbotham has the unenviable task of leading the undermanned franchise into the finals. Having underachieved in their short life span so far, the Rebels need to do something to gain a larger market share in the competitive Melbourne sports scene.
Their three seasons in existence have seen gradual improvement, from 15th in 2011 up to 12th last year, the fans will only back the team if they are winning, look at the Reds for an example of what winning can do to a franchise.
Higginbotham is another member of the strong crop of loose forwards in Australian rugby and would have been in contention for a Wallabies jersey were it not for a shoulder injury. Having been elected captain, Higginbotham will get a lot of the credit for his leadership if they do well, but he will be the first one to cop the blame if they continue to finish at the bottom of the table.
There can be no doubting Kurtley Beale has a phenomenal amount of talent but his well-known battles with alcohol have contributed to an uneven career to this point. A stint in rehab and shoulder surgery made 2013 a season that Beale would like to forget as soon as possible.
As he begins his comeback from surgery, he needs to show that this is the year he will finally grow up and show some maturity. His close friend Quade Cooper has shown that personal issues can be overcome and while nobody is saying it will be easy. The carrot of returning to the Wallabies squad under the man who gave him his Super Rugby debut will hopefully be enough to put Beale back on the straight and narrow. In spite of his talent, the Wallabies have shown they are competitive without him.
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