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Rivalry ... Quade Cooper says the fire is back in his belly to play for the Wallabies again. Source:AAP
Quade Cooper has relished the success of Kurtley Beale as Wallaby fly half, yet he made it clear that his close mate now has a fight on his hands to keep the jersey.
It's not the peace that finally comes from a new two-year deal with the Australian Rugby Union that is the greatest win in the Cooper saga, but the fire that has been lit inside him while he's been away, injured or being fined.
The Wallabies won a series against Wales this season with Berrick Barnes at No.10 and Beale was always prominent in the four wins and a draw from the seven Tests he played there.
Seven Tests were won when Cooper was sidelined this year, so the notion that he is indispensible has been chewed up.
"I always wanted Kurtley to go well at No.10 and he went very well," Cooper said after re-signing for a revised deal which can earn him $800,000-plus next year if he plays all 14 Tests.
"When you watch anyone playing in your position, it does get the competitive juices flowing.
"Whether it's playing FIFA 2013 as a video game with KB or doing extras at training, we compete and push each other.
"No matter who it is, I want to be challenging for that spot."
Cooper has 15 matches for the Reds in Super Rugby to rebuild his case before the Test team is finalised for an epic three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions.
Cooper was tightlipped about what had changed in a week to turn an ARU contract offer "I won't accept" into one he did.
"Obviously, there's been a change, but I'm not going to discuss the finer details," said Cooper, who will likely have had the guaranteed component of his contract lifted.
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He knocked back a bigger contract bait to play with French club Montpellier and felt honour-bound to speak to the club personally when he did decide to decline.
"It was never a matter of playing people off against another or that French offer would have been public before now," Cooper said.
"I expressed my desire to play on for Queensland and Australia."
Now the dust has cleared, the facts paint Cooper as much less a mercenary than many would have you believe.
He is still a one-club man who will enter his seventh season with Queensland in 2013 and will workout at the same Ballymore he first trained on as a mullet-wearing schoolboy.
"The Reds have been a huge part of my life, which is why it makes me laugh sometimes when I read I'm a gun-for-hire," Cooper said.
"I've been training at Ballymore since I was 14.
Was he happy to playing for the Wallabies under Robbie Deans?
"Of course...he's the coach," Cooper said.
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