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Almost 11 months after leaving the Wallabies on Test match eve in Argentina to head home for a mental health break, Michael Hooper has returned to the team’s captaincy role on Sunday vowing he’s “all in” ahead of the World Cup.
Coach Eddie Jones named Hooper and his replacement James Slipper as co-captains while naming a 34-man squad for the opening Test of the Rugby Championship against South Africa on July 8.
“We want to do things differently. We want to change the Wallabies,” Jones said.
“The combination of Slips and Hoops together gives us a very strong apex to the leadership and underneath that there’s a group of players that are going to be really important to support them. But I think the character and style between Hoops and Slips, and you don’t get two more experienced players in the world of Test rugby, so that’s a big advantage for us. And you can see by the squad that we’ve got a good core of experienced players but we’ve also got some young players coming through that are going to push the barrel.”
Jones acknowledged he had done “a lot of soul searching” before reaching his decision and engaged in “a lot of consultation with various people about what the best way to do it is. We feel that these two guys can do a great job for us.”
He also took a lead from the Swans AFL team.
“Last Wednesday I went out and spent the day at Sydney Swans with John Longmire and they’ve got a tradition of having co-captaincy and had up to eight captains, they’ve had three captains,” said Jones. “I wanted to delve down into the advantages and disadvantages. I think with Slips and Hoops, we cover the range of the squad. ”
Michael Hooper. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Jones has made it clear he wanted to mix things up since his arrival back in the Wallabies hot seat. For all that, the squad had few major shocks, and the captaincy decision was far from radical.
“We want to do things differently but better. And one of the things about any great team is that the head’s experienced, and we want to experience up there,” said Jones. “If you’ve played 120 Tests, or you’ve captained your country for 65 Tests, you’ve seen it all. You get an idea of what you should do, and we don’t want to lose that. That’s what great teams are about.”
Just how Hooper and Slipper handle the decision making is still to be worked out. Jones described Hooper as an 80 minute player while Slipper’s role in the team means he usually be replaced early in the second half.
Jones said he had been impressed by Slipper’s work with the Brumbies, saying: “You can feel that leadership force.”
On Hooper he added: “Hoops this week at Coogee has been absolutely outstanding. We put the players in some difficult situations. We played 15 versus 13, 13 verse 15, and the teams had to work it out on the run what they were going to do, and Hoops just showed the experience that he’s had as a captain and therefore the two of them together was a powerful force for us. Like it’s a winning edge for us.”
Two weeks ago Hooper bowed out of Super Rugby for the time being when his final game with the Waratahs ended with him on the bench. Photos showed him exhausted and down beat but the sparkle was back when he spoke to media on Sunday and he is adamant the work he’s put in since coming home from Argentina has energised him for the challenges ahead this year.
Michael Hooper of the Waratahs looks on after losing the Super Rugby Pacific Quarter Final match between Blues and Waratahs at Eden Park, on June 09, 2023, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“I am thrilled about well this next four months can be,” Hooper said. “To sum it up as quick as I can, yeah, I was unsure what my position looked like in rugby at that point. Now, I can’t wait to give everything I got for this. Two kids at home, I want to be here. I want to get everything out of this next little chunk and I’m all in.
“You’ve seen me play enough to know I throw myself into everything when it comes to rugby. The Waratahs is an example of that, I threw myself into that with everything I’ve got.
“I’ve always said throughout the whole of this year, whatever is best for the team is what I’ll support. So right now this is what’s best for the team and if that changes then I’m all in, no matter what.
“I feel privileged as always to captain the team, to do that with a new coach, new crew and with Slips, a guy who I’ve had such great times playing with on and off field, I’m rapt.”
Hooper said Jones had “checked in” with him to make sure the co-captaincy was something he wanted.
“Obviously, I have my history and particularly in the last 18 months where it didn’t quite work out there,” Hooper said.
“So, I got back on the tour. Got my feet on the ground in a Wallaby jersey and in around Slips was captaining the team there, and I found myself really loving it, really enjoying it, and look I’ve got something to offer this team.
“I’ve got a lot of experience and hope that I can deliver that now and leave something going forward for the group over the next little bit of time, that would be a real goal of mine. It’s not an individual thing here it’s something that you know sort of want to leave in the jersey going forward.”
Hooper suggested there has been a rise in intensity with the arrival of Jones to replace Dave Rennie.
“Of course it’s different. It’s early days, I’ve been in, what, seven days now. Maybe ask me in November, we could really break down what it looks like but of course it’s different, and change is good. It’s been exciting, it’s been fresh and the players have trained that way. That’s the best way to see the example, players are ripping in,” Hooper said.
As for the mechanics of co-captaincy, Hooper said: “It’s going to take some discussion, right? How that’s going to work. We’ve got training, that’s a beauty, we train hard, we train to a game intensity and standard, so we’re going to be prepping up from the get-go tomorrow.
“It’s going to take some good discussion. I’m really excited about how it can work. I mean, if we’ve got two minds putting this stuff together, we’re going to get a better result than just one of us, so it’s going to be good.”
Slipper agreed.
“We’ll nut it out over the next week. We’ve got plenty of training ahead of us,” Slipper said. “We have to be aligned, I can see it working really well.”
The Brumbies prop said he was “humbled and extremely proud” to join Hooper in the captaincy.
“Eddie gave me a phone call [last night] and gave me the plan,” Slipper said.
“I was extremely rapt to get it and do it with Hoops as well – I couldn’t think of a better player to do it with.
“My journey’s got plenty of ups and downs. The biggest thing out of today and moving forward, is this group having an eye on what’s coming up.
“Individually I’m pumped but I’m more pumped for this team and what we can do.”