Rugby: Quade Cooper highlight pass goes viral in Brisbane Broncos training session

Quade Cooper's training with the Broncos has not gone unnoticed. Photo / Instagram

The good, the bad and the downright recklessness of Quade Cooper has always made him one of the most watchable stars in Australian rugby despite falling out of favour with the Wallabies.

Now the rest of the world is seeing the magician in full flight — and they're just as impressed as the rugby world was when Cooper caught fire during the Queensland Reds' famous charge to the 2011 Super Rugby championship.

The 32-year-old has raised eyebrows recently, training with several stars from the Brisbane Broncos, including wrecking ball forward Tevita Pangai Junior.

Another round of rumours of a possible code-hope were overshadowed on Tuesday, however, as vision of a particular training stunt quickly swirled to all corners of cyberspace.

A highlight video posted on Cooper's Instagram page showed the former Melbourne Rebels playmaker tossing a gridiron ball during a training session.

The video just happens to show Cooper perfectly executing a 30m-40m pass. Hitting a wide receiver on the chest as he runs a cross-field route.

Oh, and the Wallabies star does all that throwing the ball behind his back in an incredibly smooth action.

View this post on Instagram

🥴 @tevitapangaijnr

A post shared by Quade Cooper (@quadecooper) on Apr 6, 2020 at 12:00am PDT

The ice-cool form from the mercurial star soon had fans and sports media commentators from the UK, United States and Canada all salivating over the crisp pass.

American commentators were even cracking jokes that Cooper is in line for the vacant New England quarterback position left vacant after Tom Brady's move to Tampa Bay.

🇦🇺 Rugby Union player Quade Cooper with a 𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 behind-the-back pass. 🤯

(🎥: @QuadeCooper) pic.twitter.com/BeMAXhyTpw

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2020

This behind-the-back pass is TOO clean 🔥

(via @quadecooper)pic.twitter.com/JXewyvMkiW

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 6, 2020

WOAH!

Wonder how many Quarterbacks could do this?

🇦🇺 Rugby Union player Quade Cooper, take a bow.

(via @quadecooper /TW) pic.twitter.com/sMInzQSnGq

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) April 6, 2020

AFL star Bradley Hill was even moved to step up and replicate the same move, in a video posted by St Kilda on Tuesday.

Bradley Hill trying his best @quadecooper 🏈 pic.twitter.com/UoVUPhI8V1

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) April 7, 2020

I’ve played with and against some of Rugby League’s best players...but I’ve never seen anything like this... https://t.co/2zz30Cpxqk

— Martin Lang (@Martin_Lang11) April 6, 2020

Cooper has been working out around Brisbane in 2020 after returning in February from a brief debut season with Japanese rugby team Kintetsu.

Having moved on from the Rebels at the end of 2019 and looking at the prospect of not playing any rugby until the expected return of Japanese rugby competitions in November or December, Cooper's return to the Broncos' training facilities is continuing to create rumours.

The former Wallabies star was linked with possible moves to the NRL in 2013 and 2018.

He poured fuel on the fire recently in an appearance on The Ice Project podcast, where he confirmed interest in playing rugby league and a real desire to play alongside close friend Sonny Bill Williams — who last year signed the richest deal in rugby league history with the Toronto Wolfpack, a club in the second tier of rugby league in the UK.

It is unclear when Cooper will return to Japan to see out his deal with Kintetsu — but the excitement surrounding his latest highlight reel shows he will again have plenty of teams around the world ready to roll the dice on him when it comes time for him to decide the next chapter of his miraculous career.