One of the Wallabies best ever captains, George Gregan has labelled Michael Hooper's decision to step away from the game as "courageous" and has backed his return to the side even if Hooper doesn't reclaim his leadership position.
Shocking the rugby world when he announced he would be taking time away from the game indefinitely on the eve of the Wallabies Test against Argentina three months ago, Hooper has returned to the Wallabies squad for the first time as they prepare to kick-off their Spring tour against Scotland next weekend.
While it's unknown whether Hooper will return to the playing side in the opening match or will build his way into the match day 23, Gregan believes his presence and leadership around the team will be enough and backs the 31-year-old to find his rhythm quickly.
"To me that just epitomizes Michael Hooper," Gregan said when asked about the flanker's decision to step away from the game. "I've been lucky enough to know the guy and work with him during his younger days at the Brumbies, he's a person whose thirst for getting better and wanting to learn and improve and has never stopped.
"The fact he put his hand up and said he wasn't right, that was really, really important. I think it was courageous, it's very, very good, and it sets out a really good message. He's in a position where if he's not going for 110% he's not going to put his hand up [for selection], he sort of empties the tank every time he plays and I think that's the way he prepares as well.
"The fact that he's saying 'I'm ready to rejoin the Wallaby fold' and get back into it and even without the C beside his name, he's incredible leader and I think it's a nice way for him just to get back in. Get back to doing what he does, find his Test match rhythm which I think he'll pick up pretty quickly, and he'll be just a great addition to that team in a leadership role. He's always in the lead."
Taking on the captaincy role in Hooper's absence, prop James Slipper has been praised for his efforts with a side that has faced several injury setbacks and had mixed results throughout the Rugby Championship, where they finished third. Expected to retain the role despite Hooper's return, Gregan has backed the idea of having several leader across the squad instead relying simply on the captain.
"I think James Slipper has done a very good job and he's got great experience and they're two guys who'll share the role," Gregan said. "There are others within that team as well, Allan Alaalatoa is a great leader within the front row as well.
"I've always said you need five or six leaders in your team; you've got your back three leader, you've got your decision makers midfield, you've got your halves and backrow, I like the idea of having that responsibility spread across the team.
"The person with the C beside their name has to make some good decisions, and to front up and do a lot of the media work and the coin toss, I'm not saying it's the simplest being captain, but when you've got wonderful leadership spread across the team, it certainly takes that burden away and I think that's the case whoever is going to be captaining that wallaby team.
"There's a really good group of players who started to get a lot of Test matches under their belt, a couple of centurions and some well and truly over 50 Tests, so they're starting to gather some nice experience across that whole team."
With just a 38 percent win record in his two years as Wallabies coach, Dave Rennie is starting to feel the pressure as many people have begun to question whether he has the ability to lead the Wallabies to the World Cup in 2023. With an important five match Spring tour just days away, Gregan still believes Rennie is the man for the job and that the players need to find ways to win the big moments during this tour.
"I think we're probably going to have to go back quite a while to when we had an incredible winning rate and I don't think that does us any favours," Gregan said. "The here and now is pretty black and white when it comes to sport. You get moments in sport which you've got to deliver on and if you don't win those big moments then you're on the wrong side of the ledger.
"You start losing matches narrowly, you start losing periods of matches which then blow out, and that's the part which you've got to get better at and I think that's the case with this Wallaby team. I know I've heard him talk about it publicly, Dave Rennie, he wants his team competing hard and you can definitely see that.
"That come back and in that first Bledisloe Test match where they were down 15mins in and then they took the lead, forget about how it ended, I think it showed a lot of character and that to me epitomizes any team that Rennie's coached.
"He's got a winning mindset and that's just got to be embraced by the playing group. You can hear them, we saw the disappointment, they want to win these big moments, they want to get over the line. I think that's a big piece of what this tour allows them.
"There's always great opportunities in sport, you will get those opportunities again, you got to start converting them, it's really, really important because then all of a sudden, you're on the right side of the ledger.
"It's a different experience when you get to those tight moments you actually run towards them and you look forward to them because you've got a really good positive memories of getting it done and that's what this group definitely needs."