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Aussie coach reveals ‘hardest thing’ about Michael Hooper’s sevens switch
By Finn Morton
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has set his sights on the Paris Olympics next year after penning a deal with the Australian men’s sevens squad ahead of the new-look SVNS season.
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But Hooper isn’t just going to walk into the Aussie team which is already boasting world-class SVNS talent including Maurice Longbottom, Henry Paterson and young gun Dietrich Roache.
Hooper, 32, has trained with his new teammates a few times and explained on Channel 9’s The Today Show that there was “a lot of running” in these sessions – “the most I’ve ever seen.”
But Hooper won’t officially join the program until the first of January, with the Wallabies’ most-capped captain expected to debut at the HSBC SVNS in Perth on Australia Day in January.
That will be an important milestone for Hooper who, as sevens coach John Manenti explained, is already having an impact on the playing group.
“He feels that he still has value to add to Australian rugby and we feel like he still has enormous value to add to Australian rugby,” Manenti told Rugby.com.au.
“It keeps him and his family in Australia rather than potentially overseas where there would have been plenty of offers so I think it’s a win-win for Australian rugby, sevens and ‘Hoops’.
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“We’re pretty excited. He’s had a few training runs where he’s done some running with us. I did a group session yesterday with the rehab group and already you see just a few extra per cent by the boys putting in, and wanting to lift their game.
“He’ll have a great effect on the group and it’ll be a great challenge for him because he knows coming into this he’s not going to just turn up and take a place in the team.
“He’ll have to earn it and learn the game… he’s well aware of that and understands this is a challenge and nothing’s given, he’s going to earn his right and he wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Hooper was sensationally overlooked for Eddie Jones’ Wallabies squad to journey up north for the Rugby World Cup in France. It was a move that nobody saw coming.
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Jones’ shock omission of Hooper, who had been named the co-captain of the Wallabies just a few months earlier, also brought an end to the flanker’s glistening international career in 15s.
But the four-time John Eales medallist, which is awarded to the Wallabies’ Players’ Player of the Year, will have to redefine his skillset as a rugby player as Hooper prepares to push for a spot in the Olympic team.
“The hardest thing is changing habits,” Manenti added.
“You’re defending a player one-on-one with five-10 metres around you which doesn’t happen very often in 15s. You find yourself in space.
“It takes time and probably never nailed it with a lot of the guys that drop in from 15s because we don’t give them enough time to play and adjust.
“Samu (Kerevi) was wonderful and effective during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games but we had to change and play around him because he didn’t have enough time to actually know and embrace the way we play fully.”