Read the complete write-up of Michael Hooper net worth, age, height, weight, family, parents, father, mother, wife, children, retirement, test caps as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Michael Hooper is an Australian professional rugby union player who is captain of the Australia national team, the Wallabies. His playing position is an openside flanker.
Early life
| Name | Michael Hooper |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| Profession | Rugby player |
| Weight | 101kg |
| Height | 1.82m |
| Age | 29 years |
Michael Kent Hooper was born on October 29, 1991 (age 29 years) in Sydney, Australia. His parents are David Hooper and Raeleen Hooper, his father David Hooper is from Kent, England. He has a brother Richard Hooper. Michael grew up in Collaroy on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. and played his junior rugby at the Manly Roos like other former Wallabies such as George Smith. Hooper represented Australia under 20 at the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship where he captained the side at times and was named International Player of the Tournament.
Rugby career
Michael Hooper made his Brumbies debut in 2010, as a stand-in for the injured George Smith. After a breakout season for the Brumbies in 2012, he was signed by the New South Wales Waratahs for the 2013 season. 2012 had been a standout year for Hooper who won numerous accolades including Best Forward (for the Brumbies), the ARU’s Rookie of Year and placing third for the John Eales Medal after playing less than half of the polling games.
In 2013, Hooper played every Waratahs Super Rugby game of the season and he won the Australian Super 15 Player of the Year award, as well as the Waratahs’ Player of the Year award.
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On 1 March 2014, Hooper was named captain for the Waratahs’ clash with the Queensland Reds after team regular Dave Dennis was ruled out due to injury received in the Waratahs’ first game of 2014 against the Western Force. Hooper led the Waratahs to a 32-5 win over the Reds at ANZ Stadium and went on to play all the remaining games of the 2014 season including the Grand Final against the Crusaders in which he captained the side to a 33–32 win at ANZ Stadium.
Top League
In August 2020 it was announced that Michael Hooper had signed to play for the Japanese Top League club Toyota Verblitz for the 2020–21 season, marking his first serious move to play domestic rugby outside the Super Rugby since starting his career with the Brumbies in 2010.
International career
Michael Hooper made his international debut for Australia on 5 June 2012, coming off the bench (in the 65th minute) against Scotland in Newcastle. Following a knee injury to regular flanker and captain David Pocock, Hooper started in every Test game until the final Spring-Tour game (and Nathan Sharpe’s final Wallabies game) against Wales in Cardiff, where he started from the bench to make way for David Pocock. Hooper won Wallabies ‘Rookie of the year award at the annual John Eales Medal awards evening event.
In 2013, when David Pocock suffered a season-ending knee injury; Hooper played in all of the Wallabies Test matches and had an outstanding year, winning the John Eales Medal as ‘Wallabies player of the year’.
In 2014, Pocock suffered another season-ending knee injury and in Ewen McKenzie’s second year as Wallabies coach, McKenzie named Hooper as vice-captain with his Waratahs team-mate Adam Ashley-Cooper and his former Brumbies team-mate Stephen Moore was named as Australia captain for the 2014 three-test June series against France.
However, when captain Stephen Moore left the field with a knee injury in the 5th minute, Hooper took over the captaincy for the rest of the game. During the game, he scored a try in the first half and he had a strong performance against France in the Wallabies’ 50-23 win at Suncorp Stadium. Hooper was rated as one of the best players on the field during the game by Iain Payten of foxsports.com.au and was also labelled ‘the Energizer Bunny of world rugby’.
Following the season-ending injury to Stephen Moore during the first test of 2014 against France in Brisbane, Hooper was named as Wallabies captain for the rest of the 2014 Test-season, meaning that he was the Wallabies 82nd Test captain and the youngest player (age 22, 223 days) to captain the side since Ken Catchpole (age 21, 354 days) in 1961.
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Following another strong 2015 Super Rugby season, Michael Hooper was awarded the Peoples Choice – Wallaby of the Year at the John Eales Medal awards night for the second year in a row. He also kept his starting position safe, forcing David Pocock into Number 8 after returning from injury. He was also selected in the 31-man 2015 Rugby World Cup squad.
Michael Hooper was again awarded the John Eales Medal, the 4th player to have won it a second time in 2016. His very rough playing style has led Hooper to collect eight yellow cards in his international career, matched in this unenviable record only by the Georgian Viktor Kolelishvili.
Wife
Michael Hooper is married to his longtime girlfriend Kate Howard, they had their wedding in the 2000s. After dating his wife kate for a couple of years Hooper proposed to marry his now-wife Kate Howard Hooper. However, it was reported that Hooper had planned for retirement in 2021 which he will spend time with his wife and children, but he came out to debunk the news.
Michael Hooper net worth
How much is Michael Hooper worth? Michael Hooper net worth is estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income is from his career as a rugby player. Hooper successful career has earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy cars. He is one of the richest and influential rugby players in Australia. However, in 2021, Michael Hooper surpassed George Gregan’s record for the most caps as Wallabies captain, 60.