Matt Cooper

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Wednesday, 18th April, 1979
Current Age
44 years and 346 days
Place Of Birth
Port Kembla, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

I’warra junior (Shellharbour) represented Country Origin in successive years in 2003-04. A hard-running centre, Cooper scored a club record four tries against defending premiers Penrith in 2004 before taking his place in the NSW State of Origin team. Although dropped after the Blues’ narrow 9-8 win in the first match of the series he was selected for Australia in the Tri Nations competition at year’s end. Cooper could not break into the Australian Test team in England but represented the combined Australian-NZ ‘ANZac’ team that defeated Cumbria and played in the international match against the USA Tomahawks. Following NSW’s State of origin success in 2005 Cooper continued his partnership centre club and State centre partner Mark Gasnier in four Tests of Australia’s unsuccessful Tri-Nations campaign. New Australian coach Ricky Stuart kept the combination intact in the 50-12 win over NZ in April 2006 (Cooper and Gasnier were try-scorers) but following the Dragons’ demise in the finals Cooper missed selection for Australia’s Tri-Nations campaign through injury.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 243 124 0   - 496 124 116 3 51.03% List
NRL Finals 15 7 -   - 28 7 8 0 46.67% List
Anzac Cup 11 5 -   - 20 7 4 0 63.64% List
City vs Country 2 1 -   - 4 1 1 0 50.00% List
State of Origin 13 3 -   - 12 5 8 0 38.46% List
Tri-Nations 4 5 -   - 20 3 1 0 75.00% List
Anzac Tests 1 1 -   - 4 1 0 0 100.00% List
All Stars 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
World Club Challenge 1 1 -   - 4 1 0 0 100.00% List
Charity Shield - AUS 2 1 -   - 4 1 1 0 50.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 2005-06 6 7 -   - 28 5 1 0 83.33% List

International Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 2005 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW Country 2003-04 2 1 -   - 4 1 1 0 50.00% List
NSW 2004-08, 2010 13 3 -   - 12 5 8 0 38.46% List
NRL 2010 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Overall2003-2010 16 4 0   0 16 6 10 0 37.50% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
St Geo Illa NRL 2000 10 2 -   - 8 4 6 0 40.00% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2001 4 2 -   - 8 2 2 0 50.00% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2002 19 7 -   - 28 6 10 3 31.58% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2003 23 11 -   - 44 10 13 0 43.48% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2004 23 17 -   - 68 13 10 0 56.52% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2005 20 13 -   - 52 12 8 0 60.00% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2006 23 15 -   - 60 13 10 0 56.52% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2007 20 11 -   - 44 7 13 0 35.00% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2008 19 9 0 / 1 0.00% - 36 7 12 0 36.84% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2009 19 3 -   - 12 12 7 0 63.16% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2010 19 12 -   - 48 14 5 0 73.68% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2011 21 14 -   - 56 13 8 0 61.90% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2012 15 6 -   - 24 7 8 0 46.67% List
St Geo Illa NRL 2013 8 2 -   - 8 4 4 0 50.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
St Geo Illa 2000-13 243 124 - / 1 0.00% - 496 124 116 3 51.03% List

Your Say

  • Joel
    02/04/2020

    Best centre in the world for a number of years. Best defensive centre I’ve seen and a great attacking player. The Dragons haven’t found a good replacement for ‘Coops’ since he retired in 2013.

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Paul Carter, Alan Katzmann, AJ Lucantonio, Bill Bates

Sources: NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2003, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2004, NRL 2004 Official Rugby League Annual, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2001, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 2002, 2006 Official Rugby League Annual