Ahead of the opening Test against England in Perth, Wallabies veteran Quade Cooper says his exchanges with the old enemy's playmaker Marcus Smith are mutually beneficial and for the good of rugby.
The pair connected over social media after Cooper watched Smith play with good mate and former Reds teammate Ben Tapuai for Harlequins
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Smith recently revealed Cooper, 11 years his senior at 34, had "helped me a lot".
That included sharing the way Cooper analysed opposition and dealt with mistakes mid-game.
Whilst that may raise the eyebrows of rugby traditionalists, Cooper says he is also learning from Smith, who he described as a "great talent", and other young players who challenged his own views.
“It’s more of about being able to see things from their perspective and not getting encapsulated by your own view on how you do things and challenging your views,” he explained to reporters.
“That’s the great thing about having those conversations with guys from a different era. I know when I was coming through I saw things a different way and then you speak to some of the older players.
“The luxury of nowadays is we have access to those type of people. When I was young, you couldn’t send Carlos Spencer an Instagram DM and have a chat, you couldn’t get in contact with these guys and everything was out of reach. Now, I follow along and support some of the young guys coming through and enjoy watching them play.
“For me, it’s been able to have communication both ways, being able to learn from them and understand what goes through their head and what makes them tick.
“I think it’s a great thing to have in our day and age.”
Cooper said he wanted his peers, rivals and rugby in general to flourish.
"We're all here to help each other grow, we play a sport that is a competitive sport, but at the end of the day we play the same sport," Cooper said.
"If you're of the mindset of you're trying to hold things back from other people, and you're trying to stunt someone else's growth, that's such a negative way to live your life."
Japan-based Cooper is in a three-way tussle with James O'Connor and Noah Lolesio to wear the Wallabies No.10 jumper on Saturday night at Optus Stadium.
After a four-year absence, he made a surprise return to the international arena last year, playing five Tests for five wins, but didn't join the Wallabies on their UK tour and face England. Australia lost three from three without Cooper at the helm.
Cooper said coach Dave Rennie was keeping the players on their toes ahead of the team announcement.
"There's players who are in some red-hot form, between guys who play in Japan and Australia," he said.
"The last week, everything's been quite hotly contested, coaches are keeping everyone on their toes by chopping and changing the bibs and who's meshed with what person.
"There's no guarantees in any of this, so we just do the best that we can to make sure that we're we're prepared and ready, no matter whose name's called."
