Lionel Cooper (rugby league)

Lionel William Cooper (1923–1987) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1940s and 1950s. A state and international representative winger, he played in Sydney for the Eastern Suburbs club and in England for Huddersfield.

After being spotted playing Australian Rules Football in a services team in Darwin by Ray Stehr in 1941, Cooper joined the Eastern Suburbs club. Stehr invited Cooper to trial with the Roosters following World War II.

A powerful winger, Cooper played in just 6 matches before gaining selection for New South Wales. Later that year Cooper was a member of Eastern Suburbs' 8th premiership-winning team. In 1946 Cooper represented Sydney, New South Wales and Australia; he played in all three tests against the Great Britain Lions that year at home. Cooper also took out the 'NSW Player of the Year Award' in 1946.

The Gregory's reference describes him as a bullocking, bruising winger who was a great finisher of back-line movements. His hard-running style incorporated a hip-bumping technique to brush off defenders.

In 1947 he joined English club Huddersfield, where he had 9 successful seasons - scoring 420 tries, including 71 in the 1951–52 season. In one match that year, against Keighley, he scored a record 10 tries. Also joining Cooper was his friend Johnny Hunter, a full-back, and a little later Pat Devery, an Australian test centre who formed a partnership with Cooper on the left.