RUGBY AUSTRALIA HAS offered Wallabies captain Michael Hooper an unprecedented five-year contract in a bid to secure him through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, according to media reports.
In a move interpreted as Hooper replacing Israel Folau as the face of Australian rugby, following controversy over his views on homosexuality, the reports say RA has offered the 26-year-old flanker its longest-ever deal.
A RA spokesman told AFP: “We don’t comment on contract negotiations.”
The marketable Hooper is out of contract at the end of this year but the New South Wales Waratahs flanker said he hasn’t decided on his future.
Asked if a long-term contract in Australia was appealing, Hooper told The Daily Telegraph: “I love playing rugby in Australia. It is such a great place to play rugby.
“There is a great talent pool and we have a lot of players coming up who are hungry to win, and that’s something that is exciting.”
But Hooper told the newspaper he was focused on leading the Waratahs, who top the Australian conference in this season’s Super Rugby competition.
“Next week is in my head at the moment,” Hooper said.
“You can’t get caught up in looking too far down the track. You have to focus on the here and now. That’s where my head is at.
“These things take time (to finalise). There are a lot of things going on, as you can imagine. Whenever that time arrives, so be it.”
Hooper, a two-time John Eales medal-winner as Australian rugby’s best player, would reportedly command Aus $1 million ($750,000) a season in Australia, but clubs in Europe and Japan were likely to pay more.
The reported developments follow a storm over Folau, after the devout Christian wrote on social media that gay people would go to hell unless they repented.
RA did not sanction Folau for his comments but the player revealed he was willing to walk away from the sport if the body felt his position was untenable.
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While keeping Hooper in Australia for the next 5 years is obviously the priority, 5 years is a big commitment for Hooper to make for one contract, even if it’s for 5 million. Financially it would be a great move for Hooper but whether he wants to tie himself down for that long is questionable.
I personally think that the ARU would be better off putting a 3-year contract on the table for 3 million-which is still too much for European clubs to buy out for 2 years at least-and then look at it again in 2021. Add in the factor that there is a high injury rate for international backrows in their late twenties and the ARU could possibly offer less money in 3 years time.
Regardless of whether Hooper takes the contract or not, this offer shows the desperate state that Australian rugby union is in at the moment.
@EK: With league cherry picking some of union’s best youngsters (Ponga and Crichton to name but a few), the ARU needs to keep as many high-profile names at home as possible-there has to be some union players for youngsters to aspire to. Too many young union players want to be the next Cooper Cronk(another union schoolboy) or Greg Inglis rather than the next Will Genia or David Pocock. Union’s not dead yet in Australia, but it could be soon if they don’t take drastic action.
@EK: the ARU have mismanaged the game to catastrophic levels in the last 15 years. All the focus was on setting up new franchises and very little on grassroots development. As a result the game suffered in Queensland and NSW, and didn’t even make a dent in Victoria or WA.
He’s no Dan Leavy