Moore should captain Wallabies: Mortlock

I thought read somewhere that Pocock was "owned" by McCaw on Saturday. Was that true ??

Even his old sparring mate Phil Waugh has been quoted as saying when you look around the dressing room and you see George there, he inspires you with confidence. That's what good captains do. They inspire even seasoned campaigners with confidence and they settle the nerves of newcomers and help them focus on what they have to do. Motherhood statements? You bet. Neither the All Blacks or the mighty Qld State of Origin side have held sway purely based on facts and figures. There's a lot of heart and soul and guts and playing for your mate and mental toughness that goes in there too. Something the left brainers with their focus on the trees and their dispassionate, numerical approach will never understand. I'd love to lock some of them in the room with Big Mal and his team when they are making their selection decisions. They'd learn a lot.

A captain to me first has to inspire, provide direction and at times rein in his team. Everything else comes second, from referee management to how well they speak at a presser. Different types can achieve this but they all must have the ability, intellect and respect to make it happen. Unfortunately we seem to have a few candidates who only have 2 of the 3.

Agreed Daz, Excellent article. One thing about form, it is not automatic when considering players for the national team, or for that matter, any rep team above club sport. Players who have stood tall in the heat of battle previously will usually get the inside running, despite their current form being down. It's not always the case though, & as always relies on the ultimate perception of the selectors as to who still has it (the will to compete), or who can add value (to the team's performance), etc.

Extract from his book: 'Born to Lead, Wallaby Test Captains', by Max Howell (Wallaby 1946-48). "What makes a captain?" "The simple fact is there are more types of captains than there are players on a rugby field. Put into a nutshell, there is no such thing as a captaincy or leadership profile that can be stated with any certainty. There have been small captains, tall captains, quiet captains, noisy captains, introvert and extrovert captains, forward captains, back captains, 'mad dog' captains, weak captains, strong captains, lucky captains, unlucky captains, high-principled captains, articulate captains, non-articulate captains, stuttering captains, theoretical and non-theoretical captains. What is for certain is that there has never been unpatriotic captains, or gutless captains. No-one in Australia's rugby history has dishonoured the position. The point is that captaincy and leadership are not constants. They are variables and any one of the categories mentioned previously can result in a successful or unsuccessful captain. The leader may be a fullback, lock or hooker. We have seen them all." So there you have it. You pick the best man available at the time & cut your cloth according to your candidate. You hope, with all the educated reasoning available, that he will rise to the occasion.

ive not seen refs react against a captain like they did with hooper before. he really seems to get them seriously offside. ur right tho, he could learn and it could all change if he continues tho that would be more of a hope with little indication of likelihood.

yeah not a massive hooper fan but was happy with what he did there. tbh tho i think it points to a bigger problem that refs seem to genuinely dislike him. can you imagine joubert talking to mcaw like that if he did something similar?

but Hooper was outplayed by Gill, Hooper was hardly sighted. Pocock had a good game until he got concussion with his head in a ruck

Didn't hear or see anything from Moore today. Brumbies were under the pump yet he went missing.

Yeah George smith

now world peace is a bit of a stretch...although he could sort out the middle east :)

@ The Electronic Swagman Again cool... and thanks for the reply. Hey, when I said before 'to be frank' I was goin' to say that 'frank' is the name of me dog... but I firmly resisted such are my powers. And by the way 'frank' da dog is a somewhat of a heinz all kinds... but that's being a bit mean to him. To be proud and loud...his father was a Kelpie, and his mother was a Jack Russell. [mods. Snip. no strong language pls] So could I ask... at this juncture... what is your dog, and his name ? Sorry to hear that you are in recovery of sorts... all the best with that. Your life's current description... as opposed to wearing tweed et al... sounds fascinating. A writer, eh ? I wish. My father is an editor of many a genealogy publication, and only recently edited a book of a local Koori fella who received an OAM a few years back. This fella grew up in the sth west hinterland of NSW in the late 30s... stark realizations given the time. Just for colour I'm a Nth Sydney Bears supporter... or was thanks to Darth Vader.And used to do a lot of surfing... do you know any Bra Boys ? Anyhow, I sincerely hope that you know I wasn't advocating for Hooper to be Wallaby captain... I just took umbrage as to your reasons. All the best. Ciao.

Yep

An irrelevant point well made... Good to see the English teachers are back out in force.

Machooka, very definitely having a laugh, and not at you. ;) Taylorman, yes I can see that was an unfortunate choice of words!

If he is then great, and I am very happy to be shown to be wrong on that point.

So who's your choice for Captain?

should we also get Folau to bring World peace as well while he's scoring all the tries, captaining the side to the World Cup as well?

Does Folau understand the rules well enough to 'manage' the referee?

true, claims are made Moore has good game management yet can not provide examples, I have shown in all the close matches lost and how the majority were lost that at the end it was poor game management. They also mention good ref management yet have not any examples, and like you feel he hardly ever approaches them.