Wallaby Captaincy

[Scrubber2050]

When Mowen left and Moore appointed I thought it was the perfect solution.

Moore had played a squillion tests, was conservative, old school, no-nonsense sort of chap, a great player and respected by his peers. It was a giveme.

Then the bloke got injured after a number of minutes, so consideration to next in line.

AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) was the obvious choice, based on Caps, experience, performance and respect of his peers. I think he wasn't chosen simply because he was too far out of the action, being essentially a winger for the Wallabies.

Next in line to most, was Hooper. Great player, plays 80,seems mature for his age,but little else known about him except inexperienced and maybe didn't quite (and understandably) have the respect of the rest of the playing group when compared to both Swoop and Moore.

Hooper gets the gig. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and bolter Slipper named as VC's

On -field and some off-field captaincy issues have arisen. When Moore returns does the Captaincy revert to him or does Hooper retain (as he then is heaps more experienced than Moore at that stage) ?

Personally I think Moore should take us to RWC.

 

[Slim 293]

Considering Moore was Link's first choice, the captaincy would have to revert back to him.

 

[Tangawizi]

Quade actually made sensible comments yesterday. Made me wonder if he'd have gotten it ahead of Hooper if fit at the time as Link has picked him as a Reds captain previously.

I agree with Moore as captain if fit though. Would love us to pick O/S players next year though and make Giteau his deputy. Just for the World Cup year, pick our best 23 blokes no matter where they are playing.

 

[Tiger]

If Moore comes back it has to go to him and, in that respect, the quicker he comes back the better.

Hooper may one day be a captain, but he's not one at the moment in my eyes.

 

[A mutterer]

I'm not sure why this has even been raised? Hooper has been one of our standout players and has done well for a young player and captain.

 

[ACT Crusader]

Moore is still first choice hooker when fit, so should be first choice captain. IMO he probably should've had it before Horwill.

 

[Wilson]

Quade actually made sensible comments yesterday. Made me wonder if he'd have gotten it ahead of Hooper if fit at the time as Link has picked him as a Reds captain previously.

I agree with Moore as captain if fit though. Would love us to pick O/S players next year though and make Giteau his deputy. Just for the World Cup year, pick our best 23 blokes no matter where they are playing.

Quade was vice on the eoyt so theoretically he would've been next in line when Moore went down, had he been fit.

 

[Wilson]

Quade actually made sensible comments yesterday. Made me wonder if he'd have gotten it ahead of Hooper if fit at the time as Link has picked him as a Reds captain previously.

I agree with Moore as captain if fit though. Would love us to pick O/S players next year though and make Giteau his deputy. Just for the World Cup year, pick our best 23 blokes no matter where they are playing.

Also giteau couldn't be vc because even if he was available he probably wouldn't be starting

 

[Slim 293]

Quade did well in the vc role, but I'm not fond of our playmakers also holding the captaincy role...........

 

[fatprop]

Moore is the obvious choice, Hooper will be better for the experience

 

[Tiger]

I'm not sure why this has even been raised? Hooper has been one of our standout players and has done well for a young player and captain.

Certainly lots of people I have spoken to this week are flabbergasted that Hooper is captain. Without getting into the merits of that (and I've certainly got pretty strong views about it), it's fair enough to raise the issue his captaincy once Moore gets back I think.

He's a good player and he will have learned a lot; will place him in good stead for another tilt later in his career

 

[Train Without a Station]

Quade for captain! I fucking love it. Ex-communicated from the team to come back as leader and savior. The romance! The drama! The intrigue! What a story!

He actual does present himself very well off the field and has worked hard ot improve his weaknesses on the field. My only concern is he's had 4 stints on the sideline for the last 3 years.

All of our leaders seem to get injured.

That's why AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) clearly isn't a leader. 100 tests and barely gets injured.

 

[light]

Depends who is fit and who is playing well. Pick the best XV first and foremost.

IMO if everyone was fit, Hooper and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) wouldn't be certainties in our best XV.

 

[Almost 2 old]

Personally I think you're right on the money, but, the current coach loves TPN and a fit TPN will/may stymie Moore's playing time. The current style of replacement patterns that seem to be almost set to time makes it very hard to pick a captain now from the tight 5 as in most games the front 3 get dragged at the 60 / 65 minute mark and either 4 or 5 go quickly after. Closely followed by either 6 7 or 8 or a combination. At the same time the 9 also will most likely go. The 6 & 2 split of the bench makes it very hard for the captain to come from anyone other than a 11 12 13 14 or 15.
Annoys me greatly as I believe the "tights" are your heart of the team.

 

[A mutterer]

Moore is still injured. Hooper has been a consistent performer.

There's been more than enough hypotheticals over the past few weeks, and the Geoffrey Robertson version is a far more enjoyable version thanks very much.

 

[BDA]

The big question for me remains whether Hooper, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and other tahs players will be in hot water when it is revealed which players received the infamous text msgs for Beale.

If it is revealed that Hooper received those txt message, there is at least an argument that he should be stripped of his captaincy.

 

[Slim 293]

Hooper has been a consistent performer, but there's been questions about his captaincy.............

He also assumed the role after Moore was injured..........

If Moore is fit, and he's playing, he will be the captain........

If not, then there's no certainty who it will go to next year............

 

[Sully]

I think he's been shown up in his captaincy and we should look elsewhere for the EOYT

 

[Braveheart81]

The big question for me remains whether Hooper, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) and other tahs players will be in hot water when it is revealed which players received the infamous text msgs for Beale.

If it is revealed that Hooper received those txt message, there is at least an argument that he should be stripped of his captaincy.

This is obviously a topic that is pretty much out of bounds but why the assumption that the Wallabies are full of state based cliques?

It might be true for brand new players, but we're talking about players who've been around the side for a long time and plenty of them have played for multiple Super Rugby teams. Some of the players from different states played and toured together as early as with Australian Schoolboys.

From what I understand, if you were picking Beale's closest mates in the squad, that wouldn't include Hooper.

Hooper has been a consistent performer, but there's been a lot of questions about his captaincy.....

He also assumed the role after Moore was injured....

If Moore is fit, and he's playing, he will be the captain....

If not, then there's no certainty who it will go to next year....

I agree Moore is the obvious captain but it's going to be a tough run back from injury to be at peak form for the RWC. We'll essentially be naming our preferred RWC Captain in early-mid July.

It will be a huge challenge for him to make himself the obvious choice from a form and fitness perspective by that point.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Hooper is a very good platyer. Seems to be a bit more criticism of the bloke and comparisons on styles to that other bloke Mr Pocock. I think some of his decisions have been poor, but I put that down to youth and enthusiasm.

Being a very good player doesn't necessarily mean you are a very good captain. TWAS on another thread gave a heap of examples.

My problem with Michael Hooper is that he doesn't "seem" to inspire the others and Stephen Moore does.

Is Moore back for the start of Super 15