Cheika holds fire on Tahs captaincy

Elevenyearold - that must be your iq? What a stupid statement.

That's pretty much every professional coach isn't it?

make Hooper captain - he could be the next Richie McCaw...

This Michael Cheika guy is going to be one of those coaches who at the beginning is everything they need and at the end they want to get rid of him.

Micheal Hooper is born in 1991. He is 21. He captianed the australia under-20 team at times in the 2011 Under-20 World cup, so he defintaly has leadership credentials, could do a lot worse than Micheal Hooper as captain, I think he likes to lead and be involved he revels in responsibility , like Nathan Sharpe, John Eales, or Alan Border or Mark Taylor they like to lead naturally.

My tip is Hooper. Age is no issue. His time with the Wallabies will have added 3 years of maturity. Newness to a team is irrelevant nowadays with players all being exposed to each other in other environments. Think Ben Mowen at the Brumbies. And he strikes me as a guy who would steel the men around him through his actions. Much like P.R.Waugh who was a great on-field leader for the Tahs.

I'm a HUGE Hooper fan and have been for a while. Not only for his play but his bearing, attitude and demeanour. Whoever said it above (PeterK?) is right - it would be a HUGE call given his youth and newness to the team - and I think it might distract from his game a bit too... but none of the others jump out either. Oh to have Mowen still in the team eh?

Not saying he is, just pointing out the folly of thinking good player equals good captain. They should have trial games.

No stand outs and therefore I don't believe it is a very important issue in the context of it, especially this public speaking BS. I would have AAC or TPN if it matters. As long as they work as a unit and Cheika is a hard no nonsense player, I watched him a bit through my playing days and is just what the pampered tahs need. I remember when Bucknall from Easts almost rucked his face off in and Easts Randwick match and he backed up a couple of weeks later to play in the finals. More work less talk that is what has been or will be delivered by Cheika. This coming from an Easts supporter.

Hooper is not Pocock. The way to establish whether Hooper the good player is a good or bad captain is to give him the captaincy. Perhaps in a pre-season trial match, assuming there are any.

re Hooper, good player does not equal good captain. Pocock has been and ordinary captain so far despite being the best wallaby for much of the last 4 years. Hooper needs a little more time yet.

This is cheikas test. Fatcat gets captaincy then it's situation normal for the tahs.

It's a sad sign of how things have become when the key quality people use to put forward their preference for a rugby union captain is...... how well they speak at the press conference after the game!? The qualities that come way before the above are their ability to effectively communicate with their TEAM MATES, the quality and consistency of their game, their respect for coach and referee, and their general values and lifestyle outside of the game (ie: you don't want the Tahs captain, for eg., to be a scruffy lad out on the town and getting into fights etc every night).

Being media savvy and a good on field leader who is guaranteed to be in the 1st XV are rare qualities to have. If no one is suitable could the Tahs split the responsibilities? An on field leader and a separate player who is the team spokesman? May solve the issue of having a captain who is in the the back three.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-29/interview-wycliff-palu/3979052 He is a fine speaker, a leader on the field with his deeds that go mostly un noticed by the fairy floss fans, but not the true rugby fans, and he is a motivational figure... Palu would be my captain.

I dont think your comment was intentionally racist but, like Mike G, i did take the 'not articulate enough' comments the wrong way. I definitely think that Palu's English is good enough to captain the side. Its more a matter of being a natural leader, motivator etc than being very eloquent. There are numerous examples where foreign players or even entire teams are coached by foreigners. To be perfectly honest, I always doubted than McKenzie was fluent enough in French to coach SF. Gorgodze is captain of Montpellier and i dont think he is more fluid/fluent in french than Palu or the others in English. Plus wont name names but there are quite a few 'anglos' who have captained league or union teams who were not that eloquent in their own language.

“The leadership’s earned, it’s not a given." It's hard not to love Michael Cheika, isn't it? Every answer he gives is clear, concise and with no bullsh*t. Very impressed so far (although it's obviously very, very, VERY early days!).

I hadn't thought about it previously, but no one leaps out. Maybe we go for a leadership group of say 8 or 10, and then pick someone from the EPS.

I'd be happy to see TPN with the captaincy. The added responsibility could force him to address his kamikaze inspired tackling technique and lengthen his career significantly. In terms of his ability to articulate his opinions, he actually quite a bright bloke (was studying robotics or something), and to be honest, I don't necessarily believe its the captain duty to give comment on the game either during or directly after a match. It's his job to manage the ref and lead the team by example on the field through actions not words. I believe the best leaders are doers not talkers.

There was that press conference in Argentina this year where I couldn't understand what he was going on about. All sounded jibberish to me.