Cooper wants to stay a Wallaby - for now

Wallabies’ in-demand playmaker Quade Cooper said he wants World Cup success before considering any thoughts of switching to rugby league.

Reports this week linked the Wallaby flyhalf with Australian National Rugby League club Parramatta, but Cooper said he was determined to help the Wallabies win the 2011 World Cup and continue the Queensland Reds’ Super rugby revival.

Australian Rugby Union boss John O’Neill, who is in the midst of contract talks with Cooper, dismissed the reports as a negotiation stunt by the player’s agent and said Cooper would not be lost to league.

Cooper, 22, grew up playing both league and union until 17 and has an ambition to one day play in the NRL, but said playing rugby for the Wallabies and Reds remained his priority.

“I’ve always had (league) in the back of my mind because I like watching league and I loved playing it but at the same time I’ve enjoyed rugby and I haven’t really achieved too much in the game as yet that I want to achieve,” Cooper told Australian Associated Press.

“I have been chased a little bit (by league clubs before) but at the same time it’s pretty hard to leave when you haven’t achieved anything.

“You can want to leave because you are not doing well or you can face that challenge and say you want to stay and be on that wave when it does come in.

“You would think it’s just around the corner and if you left now you would miss that.”

New Zealand-born Cooper has played just 16 Tests and became first-choice Wallabies’ number 10 only in June after being acclaimed as the Australian Super 14 player of the 2010 season, with the Reds finishing just outside the finals in fifth spot.

His value to Australian rugby was underlined by his absence through suspension in the back-to-back Bledisloe Cup losses to New Zealand over the past fortnight.

O’Neill said Cooper could expect a reasonable increase in his playing contract but also indicated he shouldn’t forget the support shown by the ARU following burglary charges in December.

“He’s got the world at his feet in our game, he’s got a World Cup next year, he’s a player we want to retain and we’re confident in the coming week or so we’ll have a satisfactory deal done,” O’Neill told reporters.

“I think all of what we’ve done with Quade in the last six months shows great support for Quade... the ARU and QRU (Queensland Rugby Union) could not have done more.”

The burglary charges against Cooper were withdrawn in a court decision last month.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said he had no concerns about Cooper, who has yet to challenge himself against the All Blacks.

“There is no dalliance with league,” he said. “Quade’s expressed to us that not only does he love what he does but he wants to continue doing it.”