Alan Jones: Wallabies should play Michael Hooper at second-five outside Kurtley Beale

Perhaps Hooper should also open the batting for Australia ;-)

The key to beating the All Blacks is play people in positions they have never played before? How wise.

hes actually an interesting character Jones and not afraid to voice his opinion...I think running Beale at standoff is not a silly idea, as he would definitely take it to the line more often than Foley...whats hes trying to say is that the wallabies have to innovate and think outside the square to really challenge the abs..and sometimes you need to be radical to achieve that

Is this a joke? Can you imagine how much Laumape would love this.

Not sure what Foley brings to the Wallabies hes anonymous. Id put Beale or Toomua at 10 oh and get Pocock back into his rightful place at 7.

Tell him hes dreamin

Bring in Quade Cooper so we can boo him some more.

Id be playing Rettalick at fullback - his aerial skills are so good...

When are we putting Steven Adams at lock? And Tom Walsh at prop. And Dai Henwood at halfback.

Different era. And let us remember, even in those days Lomu got taken apart by the French in his first outing. Defending in mid-field is more complex than the wing.

Rieko doesnt miss many tackles either but when he was played out of position at 12, Laumape ran riot. Go figure

Hooper at 2nd would be chicken fodder for Laumape

I reckon Walsh would be more than ok at prop

defending in the midfield is not so much about tackling as it is reading where to be to tackle... there is a massive amount of learning involved to be able to read the play. but its also about positional play when you arent the tackler as well... you have to cover a hole so that defenders will be less likely to run at it.

Its easy for someone like Alan Jones to come up with crazy theories that he knows will never be tested, and that he will never be proved wrong.

this made my day!!

Theres radical and then theres ludicrous. Playing Hooper at 12 is the latter. So too is proclaiming that players who kick have effectively run out of ideas. The All Blacks often kick more in general play than their opposition. Jones may have been an astute thinker in the past but this sort of carry on shows hes rapidly losing touch.

I think you are spot on cradman. jones knows hooper at inside centre is a nonsense to try at test level, as you say he is just suggesting OZ think outside the box. Do something totally unexpected, if it works great. If it doesnt then at least they tried. I think its the right mentality when trying to break the stranglehold the ABs currently have.

Hahaha go on then .........

I think the age of the pick a strong runner/tackler and play him at 2nd 5 has passed. Modern player analysis and planning would pick it apart pretty quickly. Imagine the mismatches.