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Waratahs 2020

formerflanker

Ken Catchpole (46)
I think there will be a lot of players playing their part in unofficial leadership capacity.

The ref just wants to know who puts his hand up to make the call for a shot at the posts or put pressure on with a 5 m line out.
Everything else is internal.
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
weird fucking choice

could've used this opportunity for succession planning, choose a slightly younger captain while theres a few older heads around to help guide and give advice

how many more years has simmons got here? 1-2?

I disagree as with so many departures of old hands and more injection and investment in youth and transition time for tahs now is the time for experienced hand to be captain. Simmons been a leader at the tahs and great acquisition.
 

TSR

Mark Ella (57)
I'm also pretty skeptical that Hooper volunteered to stand down as captain. Seems like he's got a tap on the shoulder.
I’d be astounded if a Tahs coach had moved against Hooper. For starters, I’d be astounded simply if a coach even wanted to, but given the extent to which Hooper has carried the team over the last 3-4 years I’d imagine he would be immensely popular and respected with the other players. If a new coach made it one of his first moves to strip him of captaincy I’d imagine he’d virtually lose the playing group in a second.
 

7137

Alex Ross (28)
I’d be astounded if a Tahs coach had moved against Hooper.....
He was absolutely not pushed. For the reasons you stated and many more it makes no sense. Penny has no currency with the squad, nor the power brokers in NSWRU. To strip Hooper of captaincy against his will would be terminal.
Captaining at state and National level for this long with many more playing years ahead of him. At some point he would want to hand it over. He’s been there and done that. Let someone else cop the abuse and criticism that comes with the armband year long. Let him focus his mind on Captaining the Wallabies for the test period only. It’ll also prepare him for eventually cutting down his Super Rugby minutes as he gets older.
 
S

Show-n-go

Guest
I disagree as with so many departures of old hands and more injection and investment in youth and transition time for tahs now is the time for experienced hand to be captain. Simmons been a leader at the tahs and great acquisition.

Who takes over after Simmons?
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
I’d be astounded if a Tahs coach had moved against Hooper. For starters, I’d be astounded simply if a coach even wanted to, but given the extent to which Hooper has carried the team over the last 3-4 years I’d imagine he would be immensely popular and respected with the other players. If a new coach made it one of his first moves to strip him of captaincy I’d imagine he’d virtually lose the playing group in a second.


If you look at the interview I posted above you will note Hooper has been in talks about this for at least 18 months
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
I'm a little nervous about throwing Harrison straight into the 10 jumper, especially considering we're playing the Crusaders in round 1. I hope he can start strongly, but so much of this is about confidence and I'd hate for him to be knocked about too early in his career.
 
S

Show-n-go

Guest
Who do you think?

Given you thought they shouldn't have appointed Simmons, who is the person that is both ready to captain this year and well into the future?

well this is my point i was getting at, i wouldn't say anyone is bursting out of the gates ready to out and out captain

you've got old mate Simmons, then Beale at VC who probably has similar time-frame as him to exit, then Hooper who doesn't want it anymore

Next in line would probably be your Dempsey, Hanigan, Roberston or HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)....as far as we can tell none are in a leadership group, at bare minimum one of these guys should be VC

I would've chosen one of these guys as captain now, so that they have old heads around them to guide and develop them as a leader instead of in two years all these old heads fuck off and these players next in line have had minimal leadership opportunities and have no real old heads/experience in the team
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
well this is my point i was getting at, i wouldn't say anyone is bursting out of the gates ready to out and out captain

you've got old mate Simmons, then Beale at VC who probably has similar time-frame as him to exit, then Hooper who doesn't want it anymore

Next in line would probably be your Dempsey, Hanigan, Roberston or HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)..as far as we can tell none are in a leadership group, at bare minimum one of these guys should be VC

I would've chosen one of these guys as captain now, so that they have old heads around them to guide and develop them as a leader instead of in two years all these old heads fuck off and these players next in line have had minimal leadership opportunities and have no real old heads/experience in the team


Have they named a leadership group? It's been referenced several times but I can't see any confirmation of who is in it.

Hooper is signed until 2023, Simmons to 2021, Beale is only signed for this year but I expect he will want to stay on. I don't really see a lot of turnover in those senior guys in the next couple of years so I think the circumstances to transition to a new captain will be more obvious and the candidate more ready in a year or two's time. It would be entirely different if we were a year or two out from a RWC. Then we would know that there's going to be a lot of turnover and we need to plan for it now.

None of the options were a clear choice this season so I don't think anointing someone now helps the situation. It's kind of like the argument that we should select players to play test rugby before they're ready so they're more ready in a couple of years time. I don't think it really works like that.
 

Silverado

Dick Tooth (41)
I think it comes down to having the best leader at this point in time. I like what the Australian cricket does where they annoint a future captain to work with the incumbent so that they are ready when the time comes. Simmons has a lot of experience and respect. Hopefully one of the others mentioned are groomed and learn from him and Hooper. Interesting that the Reds chose to go the other way and picked Wright who is only 22 and has some real emerging talent breathing down his neck. Just goes to show that there are 2 ways of approaching it
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Interesting that the Reds chose to go the other way and picked Wright who is only 22 and has some real emerging talent breathing down his neck. Just goes to show that there are 2 ways of approaching it


They're kind of in the opposite situation though. They don't have a lot of older players and a lot of the guys you'd consider as being senior players in their team are very young.

Rodda was perhaps the more obvious choice as captain yet he is only 23.
 

molman

Peter Johnson (47)
well this is my point i was getting at, i wouldn't say anyone is bursting out of the gates ready to out and out captain

you've got old mate Simmons, then Beale at VC who probably has similar time-frame as him to exit, then Hooper who doesn't want it anymore

Next in line would probably be your Dempsey, Hanigan, Roberston or HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)..as far as we can tell none are in a leadership group, at bare minimum one of these guys should be VC

I would've chosen one of these guys as captain now, so that they have old heads around them to guide and develop them as a leader instead of in two years all these old heads fuck off and these players next in line have had minimal leadership opportunities and have no real old heads/experience in the team

I can see a myriad of reasons why Penny 'n co. might have gone for more experienced players over the names you mentioned. Without being part of the setup it's hard to say if any of those individuals make sense at this time. I'm not sure that any of them really need the extra responsibility over focusing on the rest of their craft. Heck you have two players (Dempsey/Roberston) returning not that long ago from pretty large periods of injury and being out of the game. You have HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) with his shift in the scrum. Nor do I think he's demostrated any leadership at an other levels of rugby (Shute Shield / NRC..) that I can remember. Hanigan is a possibility but there might be a number of reasons why not.

If you look at all the other Australian teams all except Qld have gone for pretty experienced heads in terms of age and playing experience (eg. Haylet-Petty and AAA). Even NZ Super teams have gone the same direction with the likes of Whitelock and Cane etc...

The younger players time will come. I'm not sure about the need to rush any of them. They will still learn from observing the different styles of leadership under the older players, no need to give them extra official duties.
 

molman

Peter Johnson (47)
They're kind of in the opposite situation though. They don't have a lot of older players and a lot of the guys you'd consider as being senior players in their team are very young.

Rodda was perhaps the more obvious choice as captain yet he is only 23.

I tend to agree, I think Qld were a little light on experienced options, with the older guys having just joined the squad (Speight/JOC (James O'Connor)). It'd be interesting to know why not Rodda. I think Hegarty was another possibility (that Thorn mentioned), but I think with Wright having been around the group at different levels for longer potentially worked in his favour.
 
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