The impending Hooper vs Pocock Dilemma

[Hoolly Doolly]

Ive always rated Hooper but never ahead of Pocock. While I still think Pocock has superiority at the breakdown, Hooper does enough at the breakdown and defense but brings so much more in ball carries and linking with the backs. Maybe its been so long since we had a good look at Bam Bam and have forgotten what he brings but at this point Hooper has definitely won me over and would start him ahead of Pocock looking ahead in 2014. Thoughts?
Also there's been talk about starting them both al the george smith and phill Waugh experiment....just cant see it happen without stuffing up the balance in the back row.

Lastly Liam Gill has to be the unluckiest bugger in the country. I felt he had a much better super season then Hooper. I think defensively and at the breakdown he has superiority over Hooper but probably needs to develop other parts of his game significantly in order to stand out........when you also consider Alcock was the forces best loose forward and hopefully the emergence of Colby In Melb we're pretty lucky to have a fair bit of depth at 7.

 

[Zander]

Why not use a horses for courses approach.

 

[wamberal]

What a year this might have been for Pocock, had he stayed fit. He would have learnt a lot playing under Jake White, for starters. Obviously the Loins tour was another huge blow for him.


Poey has always had lots of talent, but he needs to work on his ball carrying. Maybe he will come out next season better than ever.


I would not like to hazard a guess as to who our starting 7 will be at the 2015 RWC.

 

[RoffsChoice]

If Pocock isn't suffering from the knee injury then he should get the nod any day.

 

[brumsfan]

Pocock will have the super rugby season to stake his claim, and will need to prove he has something more recent than an excellent World Cup match over 2 years ago to promote him self. Pocock has never dominated a season in the way hooper has this year, winning every award on offer at state, super and test level.

Gill showed some good form early on in super rugby before getting dropped by Mckenzie just before the lions tour. Gill has a little more to his game than pocock but unfortunately for him has failed to impress at his best skill the breakdown at test level. In 15 tests gill has not forced any penalties or made any
steals. Hard to believe but true.
If pocock can stay fit gill will be history

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

For me it's still not much of a conflict. The primary job of an openside is to secure and/or disrupt the ball at the breakdown and Pocock is a superior player in that regard. There is only bloke in the modern game who is as good or better: McCaw. On that basis, provided Bam's Super Rugby form is good enough through 2014, he should start for the Wallabies next season. Hooper and Gill are super players but I still think Bam is the total package. The caveat of course is being injury free and back to the standard we've come to expect. If he's not, then I'm very comfortable with the other two guys as a 1-2 combo against pretty much all comers.

 

[ChargerWA]

If Pocock comes back in the form he was before injury, I'm not thinking it's much of a dilemma.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Personally I'd argue that we aren't forgetting how good Pocock was but more the opposite, looking through rose coloured glasses. Remembering the good, forgetting the bad and talking him up as he hasn't had the chance to fail this year.

Personally I prefer Hooper. Pocock is a class above at the breakdown, but I believe that's the easiest of the skills to develop. Pocock cannot "learn" to break tackles, drag defenders and put on excellent hits the way Hooper does. Furthermore, if Cheika and Link felt he wasn't focusing adequately on the breakdown, they'd tell him and if he didn't comply, they'd select other players like Gill, in Link's case over him. The fact they haven't leads me to believe what they are getting out of Hooper, is what they want out of their 7.

 

[JakeH]

Gill showed some good form early on in super rugby before getting dropped by Mckenzie just before the lions tour. Gill has a little more to his game than pocock but unfortunately for him has failed to impress at his best skill the breakdown at test level. In 15 tests gill has not forced any penalties or made any
steals. Hard to believe but true.
If pocock can stay fit gill will be history

Pretty tough on Gill there considering we've hardly seen him since the first couple of RC games where he was far from the worst on the field. Last week against Italy he had more of an impact on the ruck in his 15 minutes than Hooper did all game, pretty sure he got a steal too

 

[cyclopath]

I agree it's tough on Gill, but we should be hard-headed with selections as NZ are, you pick the best , if they're out the next and so on. Circumstances have given Hooper a leg-up over Gill, although I can see the merits of both. I hope we don't get more talk of playing more than one of them together. That is just a busted flush.
If Pocock is fit, and plays well in Super Rugby, he should be the first choice.
I'd love to see a (fully-fit) combo of Higginbotham, Pocock and Palu, which is not a reflection on any of the incumbents, who have played mostly very well.

 

[nugget]

What a great dilemma to have.

 

[Paradox]

The other thing to factor in is who will be captain. Mowen is going to be under pressure from Higgers and a "fit" Palu so I can him not in the starting XV. Pocock is a leader and I believe will be captain in a powerful backrow featuring Palu and Higgers. Fardy to go to lock.

 

[cyclopath]

The other thing to factor in is who will be captain. Mowen is going to be under pressure from Higgers and a "fit" Palu so I can him not in the starting XV. Pocock is a leader and I believe will be captain in a powerful backrow featuring Palu and Higgers. Fardy to go to lock.

Next year, if other players get back to form (Horwill, Douglas for instance) and others keep moving on (Pyle, Carter etc) then I see specialist locks there and Fardy the real super-sub who can play 6 and lock. I'm sure he could start at lock, but reckon he's better at 6.
Would be odd if Pocock was Wallaby captain, yet behind Mowen at Super level.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

<snip>
Would be odd if Pocock was Wallaby captain, yet behind Mowen at Super level.

Can't be bothered googling to confirm, but didn't we have that with Stirlo at the Ponies when George Gregan was still there?

Pretty sure that one of the Ponies aligned correspondents will issue a correction if this is incorrect.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Would be odd if Pocock was Wallaby captain, yet behind Mowen at Super level.

Not really, we had Gregan for the Wallabies while Mortlock was in charge of the Brumbies. I have a funny feeling that Pocock commands more respect as well.

 

[RoffsChoice]

Pretty sure that one of the Ponies aligned correspondents will issue a correction if this is incorrect.

It's like we're all predictable

 

[cyclopath]

Not really, we had Gregan for the Wallabies while Mortlock was in charge of the Brumbies. I have a funny feeling that Pocock commands more respect as well.

Be that as it may, it's still odd. It was odd then too. To me.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Something rather odd about the whole Canberra setup, not just the Ponies.

 

[TOCC]

I think the 2014 Super Rugby season will make the decision easier for us..

If it doesn't, then its good news for Wallabies fans

 

[Tordah]

purely from an opposition point of view: I don't worry about Hooper, but about Pocock. Too quick to forget the QF against the Boks?
Hooper is a good player, but I wouldn't have him in my AB 23, it's a different story with Pocock, though.