Cooper called to account for his outbursts

Reuters

FACING THE MUSIC: Quade Cooper faces a code of conduct hearing for his comments about the Wallabies team environment being "toxic".

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Estranged Wallaby Quade Cooper will front a code-of-conduct hearing on Wednesday.

Cooper is expected to travel to Sydney next week to answer a charge of bringing the game into disrepute following his statements on Twitter, on television and in the media criticising the Wallabies and coach Robbie Deans.

The Reds playmaker, who will miss the end-of-year tour after a minor knee operation, called the Wallabies environment ''toxic'' and said the team was ''destroying him as a person and as a player''.

Queensland have been staunch supporters of Cooper, and chief executive Jim Carmichael tried some public bridge-mending on behalf of his star five-eighth.

''The most disappointing thing is the public thinks he has no pride in playing for Australia,'' Carmichael told a Brisbane newspaper this week. ''Quade honours playing for his country. He's very disappointed that people have questioned his commitment.''

But with the ARU's top-up contract offer off the table after last month's outbursts, much depends on his appearance at the hearing.

Cooper's Reds teammate Will Genia is understood to have re-signed with Australian rugby in a deal expected to be announced early next week. Amid another drawn-out contracting process that had Genia re-signing with the Reds but holding out for a bigger top-up contract with the ARU, the Wallabies halfback was the subject of recent speculation he was considering a sabbatical playing in Japan.

Genia was furious that details of the negotiations were made public but said as recently as last week that he remained ''on the open market'' and interested in other offers.

- Sydney Morning Herald