Watch the Wallabies take on the All Blacks live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nFrom the outside looking in, it may look like the Queenslander had his eyes set on the 150-cap goal, a mark only held by two others in World Rugby in Sam Whitelock and Alun Wyn Jones.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s fair from the fact, even completely opposite to reality.<\/p>\n
To understand the type of guy James Slipper is, all you need to know is how he told his teammates he was retiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just dropped a message on the chat\u2026He sent out a text saying \u2018yeah boys, my last one. Love ya,\u201d fellow prop Allan Alaalatoa revealed.<\/p>\n
Simple, to the point, void of any further attention.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Slipper epitomises, a player who never yearned for the spotlight but found himself in it, such was his class and connection to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what he adds off the field is that he’s just very approachable. He’s obviously\u00a0one of the leaders and has been for a number of years,\u201d Alalaatoa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very approachable to some of\u00a0our younger lads and just a really good, humble bloke. He talks a lot in meetings obviously,\u00a0because he’s most experienced, but then he also gets around the lads. The lads like to\u00a0take the piss out of him a fair bit, but that’s just because they’re so comfortable around\u00a0him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has that good balance of being a good man, getting around you, but then on the field\u00a0he drives high expectations. I think it’s more about what he does on the field that holds\u00a0that weight off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team wore commemorative T-shirts for his 150th game last week, with Slipper donning one himself. It\u2019s a gesture he\u2019s more than earned, but even still, there\u2019d be a part of the prop wanting the team to remain focused on the job at the end.<\/p>\n
Even in their captain\u2019s run, Slipper was hesitant about being handed a try in their touch footy game before being almost willed over to the joy of his teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You get the feeling that if the team needed someone to run 100km, the prop would be the first hand up if he thought that\u2019s what the team needed.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the spiritual leader of the Wallabies team, with every player you speak with having nothing but praise for the front-rower.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first inclusion in a Wallabies\u00a0squad here was the first person to ring me up a day or two before us going into the squad\u00a0and just seeing how I was feeling, asking what I was thinking about, and I wasn’t really\u00a0too sure,\u201d Reds back Josh Flook said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just gave me a little bit of feedback there and just said, \u2018mate, just enjoy every moment of it. We’re not really sure what to expect, but come in,\u00a0just get around the boys and you’ll love your time.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just that little small impact that\u00a0he’s had on every one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across his career, Slipper has faced more scrums than any other player except for England\u2019s Dan Cole.<\/p>\n
The prop has been involved with 1,290 scrums in 5,801 minutes since Opta\u2019s database recorded the stats in 2013. The reality is this number is way higher, given his longevity, with the scrums likely nearly on the 2,000 mark.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a fair argument to make that this period right now has been his best scrummaging performance under the guidance of Mike Cron.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why even as he calls time, many are calling on him to continue because of just how high his production has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d love to own him as a racehorse,\u201d Cron remarked. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d be paying money every week.\u00a0It might not be a first, but it’d be a third or a fourth for you, because he’s consistent.\u00a0He is so consistent every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a true professional.\u00a0If you want to know what a professional looks like, copy and paste him.\u00a0He’s low maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s dedicated.\u00a0He’s a great team man.\u00a0He’s got no ego. He’s trying to get better every day,\u00a0and I’ve seen him get better in the two years, 18 months I’ve been with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he’s really grown even more and improved,\u00a0and because of that, I think his work weight around the paddock’s increased.\u00a0He’s actually getting around like a 20-year-old now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cron can see a future for Slipper as a forward or scrum coach, but even still, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see Slipper slip away into retirement.<\/p>\n
Slipper has been replaced at half-time in four of the last five Tests under Schmidt.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019d be more reason than ever to play him a couple more minutes in the second half so he gets a standing ovation, you can bet Slipper would be the first man to stop it if he thought it wasn\u2019t best for the team.<\/p>\n
The ultimate team man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies\u2019 ageless thoroughbred James Slipper is set for one last gallop as the ultimate team man pulls on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,2500],"class_list":["post-186856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}