Could a 40-year-old Quade Cooper take on the NFL's biggest stars? He thinks so
Quade Cooper was meant to go to the Olympics as part of the Australian rugby sevens team at Rio in 2016, only to be deemed ineligible because he didn't have an Australian passport – despite having played more than 50 games for the Wallabies.
Nearly 10 years on, the New Zealand-born Cooper is eyeing an opportunity to get to the Games at last – this time as the quarterback for the Australian flag football team, where he could line up across from the likes of Justin Jefferson or Brock Purdy after the NFL gave the green light for its players to try out for the US team.
Cooper, who is currently playing rugby in Japan – and has since acquired an Australian passport – is the Australian quarterback in flag football, the five-a-side American football variant which will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.
The two-time World Cup medallist will be 40 by then, but he doesn't see age as a barrier to finally getting that Olympic debut.
'Where I'm at right now, I could play rugby for another two or three years quite easily if I wanted to. That's because I look after myself very well physically. But the sports are so different,' Cooper said.
'Rugby is a physically demanding sport where you're taking hits, and you're taking a lot of collisions and hits not just in a game but daily at training. The sport that we're talking about here is a sport that has zero collisions ... it's a lot different when you're trying to dodge and get out of the way of someone trying to take your head off as opposed to someone trying to come in and rip a tag off.'
As an NFL fan, Cooper would relish in the opportunity to face off against some of its biggest stars.
'I'm obviously a fan of NFL, but stepping on the field, you're going out there to compete, and you want to compete against the best guys,' he said.
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