No more growing pains for Cooper

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Spending time away from the Wallabies helped Quade Cooper to 'grow up'. Source: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

MUCH has changed in the Wallabies since Quade Cooper loosed a "toxic" arrow in the general direction of Robbie Deans last September.

The coach has changed, half the players have changed and most importantly, admits Cooper, he has changed too.

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It's been less than 12 months but Australian rugby most controversial, love-him or hate-him figure feels more than just a year older. He's done a lot of growing up.

"Growing up is right there in forefront, but it's an accumulation of things. You just have to learn. If you are too ignorant to not learn from your mistakes, you are never going to improve as a player or a person," Cooper said on Wednesday.

"For me, I learned a lot from having my time out, from being injured and not being part of the team, having time away. I am 25 now, I'm not getting any younger. You have to make the most of it."

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When Cooper followed up his toxic culture barb last year with deer-in-headlights TV quotes about turning down Wallaby jerseys, teammates were understandably less than impressed.

The dynamic of Cooper's return to the Wallabies fold, then, was always due to be interesting. After the first layers of ice were broken earlier in the year at a logistics camp, Cooper said walking into his first Wallabies camp for some time this week had contained nothing but good vibes.

"When you haven't seen a bunch of mates for a long time, for a gathering or a bite to eat, it's like old times, like you never left. You tell old stories when you get together, just a bunch of mates. It's just great times. This is one of the most exciting times for me of my career, moving forward," Cooper said.

"It's just a great feeling being back in the team environment, getting on the bus, going to your seat. Those small little things I hadn't done in a long time."

What of the culture? Has it changed from the supposedly unpalatable environment of 2012?

"There are different people, there are different people running it," Cooper said.

"It is something I wasn't a part of the last year, so I have been away from it a bit and it's really refreshing. New players, new coaching staff. Anybody can see it's going to be different. We just have to get out there, have energy and have focus on the job in front of us, and that's beating the All Blacks."

Talk to Queensland insiders and they'll tell you Cooper has matured a lot since the "toxic" episode, which co-incided with surgery: his second operation in a year after blowing his knee at the World Cup.

Part of the growing up process for Cooper is now not publically bagging Deans, who contentiously left the no.10 out of the Lions Test series that cost him his job. The past is left there.

"It's always pretty painful missing out but the most painful thing was seeing the boys go down," Cooper said of his omission.

Cooper, whose only time in gold since 2011 was a three-game stint last year against New Zealand, the Boks and Argentina, said he'd learned a lot from his time in the wilderness; mostly about the importance of a strong work ethic, even when the rewards don't come.

From an individual point of view, I have relied heavily on talent and when you get to this level, talent will (only) get you so far. You have to got to make sure you've got your work ethic, your attitude and all those small things that you think may not matter too much, you make sure they're all the right spot," he said.

"That's something over the past 6-12 months, I have really worked hard on. Not knowing if you're going to be involved in the team is something, when you are away from the team, you have to work hard on so if you're lucky enough to be called up, you're ready to go. I am just here to do a good job, work as hard as possible, contribute to the team."

Cooper is competing with impressive Brumby pivot Matt Toomua and NSW's rising star Bernard Foley for the Wallaby no.10, although he played down talk his connections to McKenzie and Will Genia would give him a leg-up. He said the focus was on improving each other as players, and contributing to the greater goal: beating New Zealand.

"It's great, especially for competition. The best way for you to improve is to have guys competing, so I am sure we are going to push each other," Cooper said.

With a new generation of Wallaby kids already coming through, Cooper said he hopes to share the lessons learned on his at-times bumpy journey.

"There are a lot of young guys coming through who are in my position … hopefully I have something that I can give to them and teach them, so they don't make the same mistakes," Cooper said.

"Work ethic is something you learn over time. Some people have it, and some people don't. But if you can work at it, it is something that will put you in a better position to better yourself as a player on the footy field, and as a person away from rugby."

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