{"id":301983,"date":"2023-05-30T05:30:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T05:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301983"},"modified":"2023-05-30T08:00:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T08:00:19","slug":"hooper-hints-at-next-move-as-swansong-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301983","title":{"rendered":"Hooper hints at next move as swansong looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As his <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nsw-waratahs\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Waratahs\">Waratahs<\/a> swansong looms, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/michael-hooper\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Michael Hooper\">Michael Hooper<\/a> has offered a rare hint of what his future might look like.<\/p>\n<p>The former <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/wallabies\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Wallabies\">Wallabies<\/a> captain will wear the iconic blue jersey in Sydney for the final time on Saturday when his side hosts Moana Pasifika in the final round of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond that, the future is uncertain. The only thing that is clear is Hooper likely won&#x27;t play <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/super-rugby\" title=\"Super Rugby Pacific\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/9.nine.com.au\/KRnrlm\"><em><strong>All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Much has been said behind the scenes with rumours the 31-year-old will pursue a Sevens career.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"760c01dc-4ada-4c81-864e-4babe499e865\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/760c01dc-4ada-4c81-864e-4babe499e865\" alt=\"Michael Hooper speaks to the media during a Waratahs Super Rugby media opportunity\" data-width=\"6000\" data-height=\"4000\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of his swansong, Hooper said the fast-paced rugby code has some appeal.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Sevens is on the landscape but there&#x27;s a lot of work and detail that needs to go into that,&quot; said Hooper.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Those guys are incredibly fit and it&#x27;s a different game and it&#x27;s a different beast to when I started and played a bit, not for Aussie Sevens but years and years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/state-of-origin-news-2023-queensland-maroons-edge-beaten-by-ipswich-jets-josh-hannay-exclusive\/003b98db-7d6c-4c19-9418-28274c721c7a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Coach quizzed as reserve grade side humiliates Maroons<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/combat-sports\/boxing-news-2023-tim-tszyu-undergoes-emergency-surgery-for-cut-arm\/a21d530a-a2d6-45d7-acc5-34d73c42c7c1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Tszyu rushed into emergency surgery ahead of title bout<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/tennis\/french-open-2023-novak-djokovic-message-after-win-roland-garros-first-round\/d2a0313f-384e-4b99-a8a6-dd7628cc054b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Djokovic&#x27;s controversial post-match camera signing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;m a different player now so how that would even look; there&#x27;s a lot of discussion that needs to be had. Is there overseas? Is there something else? I&#x27;m really open to it.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It would certainly be a change of my body comp(osition) and understanding a different game in a new environment,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;There&#x27;s certainly appeal there.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"4c11310c-5478-4b24-91dc-65111fcc92de\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/4c11310c-5478-4b24-91dc-65111fcc92de-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Hooper runs out for the NSW Waratahs.\" data-width=\"4740\" data-height=\"3160\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hooper was guarded when asked whether he would like to play rugby overseas, affirming it&#x27;s not off the table.<\/p>\n<p>He was also coy about his chances of representing the Wallabies when the British &amp; Irish Lions tour Australia in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I don&#x27;t know; never say never,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve travelled a lot, I&#x27;ve been lucky to do that and do this for a long time. I&#x27;ve got a young family.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;However that shapes up over the next little bit and what that takes to get back in a gold jersey at that point in time, I don&#x27;t know.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It depends. I don&#x27;t know what the next six months looks like (let alone) the next three years.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"e654d853-bdce-452e-8784-f1e208025f26\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/e654d853-bdce-452e-8784-f1e208025f26-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Hooper will play his final match for the NSW Waratahs in Sydney.\" data-width=\"5689\" data-height=\"3793\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hooper indicated he hasn&#x27;t shored anything up beyond seeing out his Rugby Australia contract.<\/p>\n<p>It&#x27;s rare and fresh air for the Sydneysider, who said he&#x27;ll assess his options in time.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I had that break last year and because I&#x27;ve been in contract for quite some time, I&#x27;ve never really come off the boil,&quot; Hooper explained.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;There&#x27;s always been kind of next year. I&#x27;ve never really had the time to see where things take us.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It wasn&#x27;t through lack of wanting anything or wanting change or not wanting to be here anymore, it&#x27;s just sort of how the cards have been dealt and I&#x27;m really okay with that.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/edm?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\"><em><strong>clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>As his Waratahs swansong looms, Michael Hooper has offered a rare hint of what his future might look like. The former Wallabies captain will wear <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301983\" title=\"Hooper hints at next move as swansong looms\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301983"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301988,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301983\/revisions\/301988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/301985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}