Michael Hooper played 125 tests for the Wallabies, captained Australia across three World Cup campaigns, and walked away from the game at 32. In this episode, we discuss what happens when the thing you built your whole life around stops.

We got into the mental health side of professional rugby, the overthinking that fuelled his preparation but nearly pulled him under during a tour in Argentina in 2022, where everything unraveled in 48 hours and he made the call to fly home mid-series. We talked about what it's like to be a captain telling your team you need to step away, and how he came back months later and played some of the best rugby of his career.

We also went deep on fatherhood, how having kids changed his relationship with the game, the guilt of chasing personal ambitions while wanting to be present, and the selfishness required to compete at the highest level. As someone about to become a dad, this one hit different for me.

Hoops also shared the three attributes he's seen cross over from elite sport to corporate life, what Ben Crowe taught him about playfulness under pressure, and what he'd tell his 18-year-old self if he could go back.

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Michael Hooper Instagram: @michaelhooper

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