Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper already planning for 2023 World Cup after Japan heartache
Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper admits ‘when things don’t go well you can take it personally’ and he’s thankful for having a good support network as he looks to get over the World Cup failure.
Wallabies
Don't miss out on the headlines from Wallabies. Followed categories will be added to My News.
He has been the most divisive Wallabies captain of the modern era, but it seems the tide has finally turned for Michael Hooper.
Many Australian rugby fans have campaigned for Hooper to be dropped as skipper, arguing that, with David Pocock in the mix, he wasn’t even the best openside flanker in the team.
The online tirade of negative commentary led Hooper to delete his social media accounts.
Stream every match of the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership Rugby Season Live & On-Demand on KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >
Yet his consistently brilliant performances gave coach Michael Cheika no option but to continue starting him, and despite leading the Wallabies to a disappointing quarter-final exit at the World Cup, Hooper was voted by the fans as Australia’s Choice Wallaby of the Year.
“I don’t need the validation,” Hooper told News Corp Australia.
“Did I used to pay attention to all the stuff I copped? Yes, I turned it all off, I don’t have social media because I think it’s important to have a narrow focus on what you’re trying to do on the field and not be conflicted about certain things.”
And already, 28-year-old Hooper is thinking about the 2023 World Cup in France.
“This was my second World Cup and I’m obsessed with it, I can’t wait for four years and how we view this period now, and start finding and refining what it is that’s going to make us look really great next year and then for each year adding layers,” Hooper said.
Under contract with Rugby Australia until the end of 2023, and being the captain of the Wallabies, Hooper’s input into the internal review now being conducted into the team’s poor results in 2019 will be crucial.
“We’re doing a review process right now and that’s important because there’s a lot of good stuff happening, you look at the World Cup and the margins are so fine, so you’ve got to take away the good stuff which there were plenty of, and just make tweaks,” he said.
“That’s obviously going to come with a change in staff, I’m not sure when that will be apparent, but we need to fix some things.”
Kiwi Dave Rennie is the favourite to take over as Wallabies coach following the departure of Cheika, and Hooper said having a foreigner take over the Australian team may be a necessary step if there are no capable locals available.
“It’s a hard juggling act for the people making the decision because you’ve only got a certain amount of coaches on offer at any given time,” Hooper said.
“Are there a good crop of foreign coaches available at the time or Australian coaches? Who is to say, I’m sure they’re going through that list heavily now, and what we need is guys up to the job ready to go.”
Stuck on 99 Test caps after the quarter-final defeat to England in Japan, Hooper opened up on the heartache of the failed World Cup campaign and the demands of captaincy.
“It’s a privilege and a burden, it’s something you always think about doing and when given the opportunity you try your absolute best,” Hooper said.
“When things don’t go well you can take it personally, it puts you in a hard place, it’s not an easy position to be in so it’s important to have a good support network, a good team around you which we have, and people at home who pick you back up and tell you to go harder.
“I’m still dwelling over the games, what moments could we have done differently, what in the lead-up could we have done differently, I don’t think that’s ever going to leave me, that’s going to haunt me.
“We gave it everything, we gave it everything.
“I was the fittest and best shape I’ve been in, I guess that would be the case for all the other players, the staff are working incredibly hard, and it just didn’t quite work for us, and that’s gutting, because you finish that quarter-final going ‘I had two more big games in the bank’.
“I’ll never get those back. I’m still dwelling on it.
“In failure you learn things, you just wish you didn’t have to experience that in the first place.
“I do take comfort in the fact we turned a couple of stones to try to get there, it just didn’t happen.”
Hooper is among a core group of players signed to long-term deals with RA to build for 2023, alongside rookie of the year Jordan Petaia, props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou, and lock Izack Rodda.
“They’ve done a very good job getting some of those guys on board, as a player you need a level of backing from the powers that be,” Hooper said.
“A lot of our players have been given that, so now it’s up to them to go ‘Now that’s done, I can focus on becoming the best player I can, and getting the team to be the best team we can be’.
“It’s a really strong move by them because the players they have (signed long term) are really motivated, Allan has great leadership qualities, Izack Rodda, and Jordy Petaia is just going to be unbelievable.”