Michael Hooper speaks about Eddie Jones ‘complete change of rhetoric’ that ended his Australian career

At a tribute lunch for his career, former Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper has spoken candidly about Eddie Jones’s decision to cut short his time at international level.

WALLABIES legend Michael Hooper has revealed the “complete change of rhetoric” from Eddie Jones that ended his international career last year before the World Cup.

The Wallabies most capped Test captain, Hooper was a sensational omission from Jones’ 2023 World Cup squad that ultimately resulted in Australia’s worst ever performance at the tournament, being eliminated in the pool stages after losses to Fiji and Wales.

Hooper, speaking at a tribute lunch to his career put on by the Cauliflower Club in Sydney on Friday, said the 34-31 loss to Argentina in July last year saw Jones completely change his tune.

Jones left the job following the disastrous World Cup campaign and is now in charge of Japan.

Hooper is the most capped Wallabies captain. Picture: Saeed KHAN / AFP

Hooper, in an audience of 557 people at The Fullerton Hotel including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, former Test cricket captain Steve Waugh, and Wallaby turned Senator David Pocock, said Jones backflipped on plans after losing to toe Pumas two months before the World Cup started.

“I think the trigger point was losing to Argentina in Parramatta, we definitely had a plan, and were working on that plan,” Hooper said.

“We ended up getting spanked over there in South Africa, in Pretoria, they ended up being the world champions. And then to lose after the bell against Argentina in Parramatta, from that point, there was a complete change of rhetoric, a complete change of how we’re going to do this, and what it was going to look like, a 23 World Cup in Paris.

“I have forgiven him.

Hooper says farewell to fans at the recent test between Australia and Wales. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“I just thought, imagine if you could go out on top, imagine if you could go out with a bunch of guys, how good would it be that your last game was to win a World Cup, that is just incredible.

“So I had this picture in my head of driving towards that, and that’s a huge factor in why I’d want to get up off the ground, push myself when the doors close and no one is watching.

“But to then get the call, not going over, it’s like OK, as a leader … I’ve done things that aren’t saintly, I’ve stuffed up off the field, I’ve stuffed up in a team environment, made bad calls, as a leader you make the call, you’ve got to stick with that call.”

Hooper, and fellow veterans Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley were all left out of Jones’ squad, robbing the group of valuable experience.

“He made a call, I don’t agree with the call,” Hooper said.

“And I’m not just talking about me, I don’t think one person could have made enough of a difference to change where that World Cup went.

“But if you had enough of a group of players that had been working together for four years at that point, I think the outcome would have been different. Maybe not winning the World Cup, but certainly going better than what happened.”

Hooper, who captained Australia in 69 Tests and finished with 125 appearances for the Wallabies, also bravely revealed why he had to take a mental health break from the game in 2022.

Hooper with Australian cricket great Steve Waugh at the tribute lunch. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

“I was in Argentina, and I had what would be classed as panic attacks over there, anxiety attacks, to the point where I was very critical that if you weren’t 100 per cent mentally ready to play a game, you shouldn’t play a game,” Hooper said.

“So how can I speak that as a captain, all through my career to players, and then not deliver on it? So I didn’t play that game.

“I took four games out in the end to get myself sorted.

“The lead-up to that, and for mums and dads and sons and daughters in the room, I had a baby of four months, a young boy Thomas, and we’d just found out while I was in Argentina we were having our second on the way.

“And that was a bit of a shock, like OK one is hard, two is going to be really hard, OK great.

“In the back of my mind I’d had this back and forth of, I’ve been playing this game, I’ve been putting my body on the line, now I’m responsible for a family. But the player I want to be, and my identity around being a footy player, was going head first into everything all the time, that’s the way I perceived myself as playing a good game for the Wallabies.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a toast honouring Hooper. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

“But to do that, I’ve got bang my head against the wall. But I’ve got a family. But I want to be this player.

“This is the conversation I had in my head, and it spun out to the point where I was like, ‘I’ve got to take the field in 48 hours’. If anyone has had that experience in their life – I spoke to a psych (psychologist) while I was over there and she was like, ‘Do you want to play the game?’

“I was like, ‘How the hell can I play the game?’ From learning about it now, these things are really manageable and controllable, and also super natural and normal feelings you have to be a father, it was a learning experience for me.

“It was one of my most proudest moments of getting back over to Scotland, playing the game, getting back on the field, playing some really good rugby on the back of that and being able to kiss my wife and my son and shake hands with my dad and my mum, it’s one of the real highlights of my career.”

Hooper, who was sitting alongside his wife Kate and his parents at the lunch – an annual event to raise funds for players left disabled by the game – received the highest praise from the nation’s leader.

“Michael, you are a champion in every sense of the word,” Albanese said.

“A magnificent player who has earned virtually every accolade that the great game of rugby union has to offer, an inspirational leader, made captain at a very young age, yet stood strong and held the side together through what I think we can all agree were some challenging times.”

Originally published as Michael Hooper speaks about Eddie Jones ‘complete change of rhetoric’ that ended his Australian career