He understands the outside interest but Reds defensive coach Peter Ryan says he “couldn’t give a rat’s” about Quade Cooper and Will Genia’s return to Suncorp Stadium.

After back-to-back wins put them back in the picture in the Australian conference, the Reds are determined not to let their focus stray from what is important in their derby against the Rebels on Saturday.

And that’s not the return of prodigal sons Cooper and Genia, whose partnership in the halves led to a Super Rugby title for the Reds in 2011.

While Genia left for France at the end of 2015 before linking with the Rebels last season, Cooper’s departure was much more contentious after he fell out of favour with head coach Brad Thorn and languished in club rugby last year before reigniting his career in Melbourne.

To the casual fan, Saturday’s clash is all about Cooper’s return.

But Ryan insists it is not, and will not become, a focus for the Reds.

“Not from my point of view,” he said.

“They’re just two more players that we have to deal with.

“Obviously they’re very good players, so we look at their individual games but there’s not been any special focus put on those guys by any measure.

“I suppose it’s their homecoming, I guess you could call it that.

“They obviously left here for different reasons and the reasons behind that I’m not aware of – whether it be to travel to other places or to play for another club, I’m not sure having not been here at the time.

“A lot of people want to talk about Quade and Will, I’m not one of them.”

Ryan was at the Brumbies last season but would not be drawn on whether he was surprised looking on from outside as Cooper continued not to be a part of a struggling Reds squad.

“I wasn’t here for those times and it had no bearing on what my role was here at the Reds,” he said.

“So to bring it up would be benign from my point of view.”

 

The Reds did not look at footage of the pair before training yesterday, preferring to concentrate on areas of their own game that need to improve if they are to win a third successive game.

“The big point for me, I don’t want to talk about Quade and Will, I couldn’t give a rat’s,” Ryan said.

“I don’t care whether they come up here and play like champions or not.

“I’ve been focussing on what we do as a group and that’s been the crux of it.”

Stopping the pair will be a key but not because they are Genia and Cooper.

“I think that with any team, if your halfback and your 10 aren’t going forward, then you’re going to stifle their attack, that’s for sure,” Ryan said.

“And if that’s the case for us this week, then that’s perfect.

“Whether it be the Waratahs’ halfback and five-eighth, the Auckland Blues’ halfback and five-eighth, obviously there’s intricacies in the way they play, but from my point of view, at this morning’s meeting, we didn’t look at any vision.

“And we didn’t look at any vision because we want to focus on our role first.”

The Reds take on the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, March 30, kicking off at 7:45pm AEDT (6:45pm local), LIVE on FOX SPORTS and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.

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