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Liam FitzGibbon
December 1, 2014, 11:50 am
Michael Hooper appears to have the jump on returning ex-skipper Stephen Moore in the race to lead the Wallabies at next year's World Cup.
Coach Michael Cheika admits he faces a tough decision over the captaincy but doesn't want to turn the situation into a "presidential run-off".
Brumbies veteran Moore was handed the Wallabies' armband by Ewen McKenzie earlier this year, only lasting a matter of minutes before suffering a season-ending knee injury against France.
Waratahs flanker Hooper has stepped in for the 13 Tests since and, despite overseeing just five victories, Cheika is impressed with how the 23-year-old handled the role in a tumultuous period which included the Kurtley Beale text message scandal.
"It (the captaincy) is a strange situation because Stephen was picked to be captain by the previous regime and he lasted not long, which was unlucky for him," Cheika said.
"He's obviously got outstanding leadership qualities. He's going to be captain of the Brumbies next year so that's going to be held in a good stead.
"Hooper is not going to be captain of the Waratahs (behind incumbent Dave Dennis) but has captained them before and has captained here - that gives me a good option as well."
The Wallabies play only four Tests before the World Cup in September and none before July, giving Cheika time to ponder his options, and the coach suggested Hooper had done enough to be the leading candidate.
"It's not going to be a presidential run-off or anything like that. It's going to be about just deciding what's best for the team at that time," Cheika said.
"Right now, I'll be truthful, I'm very happy with the job that Michael Hooper's doing."
Veteran playmaker Quade Cooper believes whoever takes the role will be leading a united squad of players who have developed a new "hard edge" during the spring tour.
Australia departed the UK on Sunday having lost three European Tests for the first time since 2005 but Cooper insists the the changes implemented by Cheika have the team heading in the right direction.
"The results aren't what we wanted and the Australian public wanted but the fact is we're working harder than we ever have," Cooper said.
"You think back and think 'I used to work hard' and then you get pushed harder and you realise there's more you can improve on.
"What we've been getting out of how we've been training and pushing each other as teammates, that's going to put us in a good position next year."
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...ies-captaincy/
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
good grief, I can't believe the drivel reported from the Wallabies "brains trust" since Beale screwed the pooch.
How can the general public, and Sirs, see something so completely different to Cheika in Hoopers performance as captain?
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU@K?!
I was completely and utterly unimpressed with how Hooper handled the KB scandal. It showed what a naive, immature little twerp he is. Talk about out of touch with public opinion. Beale needed to be chucked under the bus. I'm fed up with this "let the dust settle" attitude we've adopted. I won't be forgetting.
The only thing Hooper's proved this trip, is how much we miss a true leader!
Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!
Hooper will not be captain. If Pocock is fit and healthy he will be the starting 7. I'll be surprised if Hooper gets a game.
coz Stone Cold says so
who would want to be captain of the Titanic?
Moore has to come back from a serious injury. Most players take a while to get back to test form. He has to prove he is the best rake in the country before he gets the (c). If his form warrants selection, I would like him to be skipper. Hooper's form has suffered I believe from being captain. I don't believe he has the life experience or test match rugby experience to be skipper......yet. I don't think he has the "match awareness" to change plans , strategies or attack weak spots that get picked up in the heat of battle. Captains shouldn't be at the bottom of rucks because you can't read games from there........except Sir Richie.
Pocock also has a lot of work to do before he is an automatic test selection. He's hardly played in 2 years.
Everybody seems to have forgotten Horwill and Genia. They might come back into it if their form is red hot next year.
The way professional rugby is these days, injuries will change the landscape before the world cup squad is picked in September next year. Hodgo may be captain if Hooper/Moore/Pocock/Genia get injured etc. Hodgo just needs to have another season where his form is so good, they can't leave him out. That is his challenge.
Dare I say Dave Dennis........barrng injury, I've got quiet money on him being Australia's 6 for the RWC
Forget this year. You don't win the 2015RWC in 2014. We will fly under the radar........nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition
Controversy corner
This whole thread should be moved to " what makes you go WTF"
Cheika is going down very quickly in my opinion, not that it's worth a rats arse!
May the FORCE be with you!
That article is a doctoral thesis entitled "how little knowledge of human nature and logic resides in the head of Michael Cheika"
C'mon the![]()
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Fark off Gigs
The bloke took perennial underachievers the waratards to the super rugby final and won it for the first time. He did it by instilling belief, a hard edge, improving fitness and skills, increasing physicality and bringing back a style of running rugby that had the disillusioned flocking through the turnstyles.
2 days before a European tour he is handed the coaches shirt and sent to Europe with a team of which he had never met two thirds of the players. He had to introduce new styles, new patterns and new belief systems into a team he hadn't selected and to be quite frank, a forward pack that doesn't have the kahuna's to play Cheika ball. he experiemnted with many players and a few different combinations to see who could deliver the goods.
The surprise is not that we lost, but that we nearly won and didn't get farking hammered.
I have not seen such a great attacking intent and purpose in an Australian rugby team for over a decade. The style has evolved to a truly exciting point. Add a pack with grunt and some c_nt and we will win the world cup
The messiah will sort it
Cheika is truly a great coach. he comes from outside the establishment in Australian rugby. He is frank and he is honest. He gets respect from the players because he sets very clear expectations. He listens. he tells them what is what. He doesn't accept excuses. He demands outcomes or he is happy to make the hard decisions. He brings the best out of people which is all that you can expect of a coach. He is the first wallaby coach who has acknowledged that Camp wallaby is producing players of inadequate skill and fitness and he has introduced measures immediately to fix it with "the big picture" in mind. The players all have said they have never worked so hard. This is music to my ears. Camp wallaby has been a senior cits coach trip for too farking long
Last edited by Rex Messup; 01-12-14 at 22:01.
Controversy corner
let's not forget, he used far and away the best list of players in the entire southern hemisphere to do that. Even the Crusaders (who actually develop their OWN talent for the most part) don't have that many starting internationals in their run on side (the Waratahs started most of their matches with 14 international players on the field most of them current and several internationals on the bench) Cheika didn't do anything amazing with them, simply got them over the hump of shite that has been tripping them up every year (and they nearly didn't get it this time around either)
no he didn't no he didn't and no he didnt no he didn't, see my post about the same poisoned well in the England vs Australia thread. He used Sean McMahon and Luke Jones, both of them out of position and obviously on a very short leash, because they were both dropped the game after their debut. Everybody else was a capped Wallaby, some haven't deserved to wear gold for freakin years!
when will you stop rebutting my posts without reading, I have said all along I don't expect wins, I expect action......that has been sadly lacking.
there is the admission of the decade, this proves that you don't watch rugby. There was no intent at all in that attack, it was as smart as Quade Cooper when he was 18, when I used to take the park, and we were getting destroyed by a team that was far better than that, we used to do the same thing in the hope that we'd get lucky and catch somebody out of position. It's not attacking intent you can smell, it's the unmistakeable odor of the shit running down their legs.
Rex you don't know what you're talking about and your blind support of Cheika with absolutely no evidence that he is in any control of what's going on in the team is sad.
C'mon the![]()
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