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Michael Hooper finished last year as Wallaby and NSW Waratahs captain, having led the latter to Super Rugby glory, ending a 19-year drought.
He is one of the finest open-side flankers in world rugby, but all Hooper’s promotions have been on the back of injured teammates.
He made his Wallaby debut when David Pocock had the first of his two serious knee reconstructions, he won the Waratahs captaincy when Dave Dennis also fell foul of a serious knee injury, and he took over the Wallaby captaincy when Stephen Moore’s knee collapsed two minutes into his debut against France as the new leader.
But all three are on the comeback trail.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika has already reappointed Dennis as Waratahs captain for Sunday’s first Super Rugby clash of the season against the Force.
And both Moore and Pocock will be back for the Brumbies’ clash with the Reds tonight, with Pocock named as captain.
In this Rugby World Cup year, both Pocock and Moore will be the front-runners to lead the Wallabies’ campaign.
Pocock has had two serious back-to-back knee reconstructions that restricted his rugby to just five games in 2013 and 2014. More specifically, he played just 229 minutes in 2013, and only 150 minutes last season. He is champing at the bit to get back in the thick of the action.
So if Pocock regains the form that had rugby fans comparing him to All Black legend Richie McCaw, there’s every possibility Hooper will be relegated to the Wallaby bench.
At 182 centimetres and 97 kilograms, Hooper’s too small to be regarded as a blind-side flanker, especially as the 198-centimetre and 113-kilogram Scott Fardy is also returning from the injury that saw him miss last year’s end-of-season tour to the northern hemisphere.
So Michael Hooper could no longer be Wallaby captain. He’s already lost the Waratahs captaincy, and there’s every chance he’ll lose his No. 7 jersey to David Pocock to become a Wallaby bench-man.
Yet the 23-year-old Hooper hasn’t done anything wrong whatsoever, and he’s one of the world’s best players.
Go figure.