Hunt will face court on drug possession charges on Monday in Brisbane as reports emerge that he may be headed back to France at the end of year to try and continue his rugby career.

Rugby reporter Tom Decent dissects the four Australian Super Rugby teams ahead of the 2018 season.

Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels has deliberately put the heat on 19-year-old Reds playmaker Hamish Stewart, saying he is under significant pressure to perform as Quade Cooper's replacement in the opening round of Super Rugby next week.

Brad Thorn heard some disturbing things after Queensland's disappointing Super Rugby season. It won't be repeated on his watch as the towering All Black brings a new world order to Ballymore.

Quade Cooper and Karmichael Hunt might be banned from Ballymore for the time being, but two of Australian rugby's highest earners have been secretly training together for weeks at a boxing gym four kilometres away in Brisbane's inner city.

The Waratahs produced one of the more eye-catching outings of the early tournament play, while the news wasn't so good for Brad Thorn's Queensland Reds.

The Wallabies coach and Rugby Australia's boss have conceded the Quade Cooper situation is a bad look for the game.

Veteran Australian five-eighth Quade Cooper is on a long and lucrative period of gardening leave with the full backing of the Reds and Rugby Australia. Can the game really afford it?

Quade Cooper should lap up "the greatest gig in the world", two of his former teammates say, as the discarded Reds and Wallabies playmaker prepares to pocket $650,000 to run around the suburban fields of club rugby in Brisbane this season.

The most-treasured memories in Brad Thorn's storied 22-year, dual-code career weren't necessarily the ones involving trophies.

George Smith has been fined and ordered to apologise to the Reds for failing to tell the Queensland Rugby Union of his arrest and detention in Japan on New Years Eve.

Wallabies five-eighth Bernard Foley says Quade Cooper's snubbing at the Queensland Reds for the upcoming season came as a "real surprise" and feels he would be a big loss to Australian rugby if he decides to play overseas.

Australian rugby player George Smith, who won 111 caps for the Wallabies and is currently playing for Tokyo-based Suntory Sungoliath, has been arrested in Japan, the team's owner Suntory said on Wednesday.

The Lucas clan are one of the best rugby families Australia has ever produced.

The Queensland and Australian rugby community is in mourning after Stan Pilecki died on Wednesday.

The former Bulldogs chief executive will replace Bill Pulver and attempt to rebuild the sport.

Former Wallabies captain Andrew Slack says it's too soon to write Quade Cooper off and believes the enigmatic playmaker remains capable of playing Test rugby again.

Queensland and Wallabies great Tim Horan has warned the decision to dump Quade Cooper could backfire if the next crop of Reds playmakers struggle to cope immediately with the rigours of Super Rugby.

Quade Cooper's rollercoaster rugby union career has hit another down, with the former Wallaby playmaker set to look overseas for a new home after falling out of favour with new Queensland Reds coach Brad Thorn.