“Michael is one of the most professional and impressive men I have ever coached (and) I know this has been a difficult decision for him,” Rennie said in a statement.
“He’s shown real bravery in recognizing where he’s at and acting on it. We’ll support him in any way we can and I know the team will be focused on getting the job done tomorrow.”
Hooper is not the first high-profile athlete to step away from his sport to prioritize mental well-being. Buddy Franklin missed the latter stages of the 2015 AFL season to focus on his mental health and Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell took two months off in 2019 to help restore balance. Maxwell said being on tour for five years had “ruined” him.
Hooper is one of Australia’s most durable athletes but has played a lot in the past two years, after playing in Japan last year and then leading the Wallabies through tough times during the pandemic.
Fraser McReight is on standby to play. Credit: Getty
McReight is a very capable replacement, given his excellent form for Queensland and Australia A this year. Rennie prefers to have just one open face in his matchday 23, and has pointed out that Samu is capable of covering Hooper.
But the value of the Australia A program will shine again when McReight takes over as No.7. He was controversially omitted from the Wallabies squad for the England series in July and instead sent to play in the Pacific Nations Cup. The 23-year-old, who made his debut in 2020 but has only won two caps, played in every game and rejoined the Wallabies squad for the trip to Argentina in full fitness.
Slipper, for his part, has stressed the importance of starting strongly against Argentina, to extinguish the passion of the Pumas players and their fans in a sold-out Estadio Malvinas Argentinas. Built for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, the venue has a capacity of 42,000.
The problem for the Wallabies is that they got off to a poor start against England, failing to get a point in the first 20 minutes of the three Tests. Two tries were bombed in the first 10 minutes of the third test.
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“It’s a big part of the game, the kick-off, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter who you play, playing rugby against anybody will take you away from how you want to play,” Slipper said.
“For us, it’s just about nailing our details and it’s one thing to create opportunities and another to take advantage of them. To be honest, we talked a lot about our detail and our execution this week. If there’s one place you want to start well it’s here, the Argentine team and the fans are very passionate and you can’t let that grow.”
More to come