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BRISBANE - Two Queenslanders - one calling the shots and the other watching from afar - want to make up for Super 14 rugby misdeeds when the Reds aim to upset the red-hot Chiefs in Hamilton.
Playmaker Quade Cooper wants to bury his worst, most embarrassing game on
Saturday night while grounded spearhead Chris Latham has given his teammates a to-do list in the city that "bored" them two years ago.
Cooper, 20, returns to the province of his birth looking to make his own personal 2007 horror show a distant memory at Waikato Stadium.
The ultra-talented five-eighth broke down in tears in the dressing room after he dropped the ball seven times in a terrible 21-19 loss to the Chiefs at Suncorp Stadium.
So bad was the performance it was posted on You Tube soon after as a goof-ups video underscored by the Benny Hill theme.
With his family in Australia and New Zealand watching the then 18-year-old said he let the pressure overwhelm him.
"I've thought a lot about that game," Cooper said.
"Before that game and leading up to it I put a lot of pressure on myself.
"I really wanted to have a good game but the case was I probably had the worst game I had ever played in my life."
Now showing far more maturity in an improving Reds line-up, the bigger and wiser Cooper knows it won't be any easier on Saturday night against the form side of the competition but he is better prepared.
"It will be an even bigger challenge to be back home but I think I learned a lot last year from all the ups and downs we had as a team.
"That sort of benefited me this year, I've had a lot more ups this year than downs.
"It's just footy. I've been playing since I was three and I can't stress that enough, it's only footy."
Cooper is likely to be without skipper Sam Cordingley inside him at halfback again as Reds medics have advised the veteran to take a cautious approach to his calf strain.
It will leave the rising Ben Lucas at halfback and abrasive lock James Horwill as captain after his successful debut as leader in Friday night's 29-12 upset of the Western Force.
A change is expected in the front row where former Wallabies tight-head Rodney Blake is due to return after a strong all-round effort off the bench against the Force.
The Reds will fly into Hamilton late on Thursday with lists provided by a chastened Latham (knee) after he upset Hamilton's mayor and tourism operators in 2006 for partly reasoning the Reds' flat start in their 35-17 loss was due to pre-match boredom.
"Even though Latho can't go he's given the guys to-do lists," said coach Phil Mooney who wouldn't give away what sights and activities were planned.
"He was taken out of context at the time, he loves Hamilton."
- AAP
