Wallabies legend Michael Hooper has given his thoughts on where Roosters star Angus Crichton could feature for the Wallabies once he switches codes.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old announced in January that he signed a two-year deal with Rugby Australia, which will see him play for the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby from next season.<\/p>\n
This sees Crichton available for the Wallabies ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n
The second rower is certainly no stranger to Union, having previously been selected for the Australian Schoolboys squad in 2014 as a forward (specifically as a No. 8).<\/p>\n
But the 125-Test Wallaby believes that the 200-game NRL player is more likely to feature as a back.<\/p>\n
From there, Hooper thinks that with a reshuffling of the backs to accommodate Crichton, it could unleash the potential of rising star Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i, who is currently injured with a hamstring tear.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the places I\u2019m hearing from, he\u2019ll look good in No. 12 jersey,\u201d Hooper told SEN 1170’s The Run Home.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo inside centre is what I\u2019m hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLen Ikitau has been world-class at 13 for the Wallabies, and he\u2019s been moved to 12 with big Joseph moving into 13 there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Joseph hasn\u2019t really clicked in that position yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if you get someone like Gus coming over and going to 12, then you\u2019ve got Ikitau at 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I still think Joseph probably is suited to fullback (No. 15). You just want to see the ball in that guy’s hands (and) give him more space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe back three for the Wallabies with Mark (Nawaqanitawase) coming back as well. The back three is not a problem with Max Jorgensen\u2026providing they can stay fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s how you get the ball to them. So, your No. 10 jersey, who\u2019s going to take that role?\u201d<\/p>\n
Conversely, Hooper acknowledges there are no guarantees Rugby League stars like Crichton will have success in the 15-man game.<\/p>\n
\u201cGus could be, and I say could be because it doesn\u2019t always work,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw with Sam Burgess back in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was amazing, but it didn\u2019t quite click.<\/p>\n
“Did he have a long enough runway to get going there? Was he played the right way?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s going to be the management of when he goes to the Waratahs and the Wallabies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting opportunity; they\u2019ve just got to get it right.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies legend Michael Hooper has given his thoughts on where Roosters star Angus Crichton could feature for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-541698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541698","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=541698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}