In his early years, he hardly put a foot wrong. Hooper made his Wallabies debut at age 20, captained his country at 22 and by the 2015 World Cup was arguably one of the most outstanding breakaways in the business.

Criticism was a rarity. That was until World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer, someone Hooper had turned to for advice during his career, went for the throat.

"At the moment he is No.5 openside flanker in Australia," Dwyer said in April. "He's gone from being an absolutely outstanding player to what I think is a total non-event."

Dwyer's comments didn't miss the mark. At the time, Hooper swatted away questions about what he really thought but has now revealed he did "not at all" agree with Dwyer.

"Like every player, you've only got to go into a comments section and you'll find enough criticism about yourself, so Bob's comments were nothing new," Hooper told Fairfax Media in Johannesburg.

"Bob's always been good to give me advice personally, especially earlier on in my career. Mate, you cop good and bad from everyone. The more you sit on even your positives, the worse off you're going to be. The moment you start reading too much of your good stuff, then it's not going to help your game. You've got to, as a player, be really in tune with who can give you a consistent opinion – someone who has seen a lot of your rugby and who will tell you when you aren't playing well, or you're missing a bit here and there."

Would it be off the mark to say Dwyer's stinging critique spurred Hooper on for the rest of the year? Not at all.

Hooper has missed just 35 minutes of football this year and has been his workmanlike self for the Waratahs and Wallabies.

Before the Springboks game in Pretoria, Hooper had made 10 more tackles (53) than any other player in the Rugby Championship, as well as notching up the equal second most number of turnovers (six).

Despite this, few players are scrutinised more than Hooper for he is not your prototype No.7.

With the ability to be used as an eighth back, the 24-year-old can pop up almost anywhere on the field.

This has the potential to blur his role to the punter on the street who can't understand why his over-the-ball work might not, at times, mirror that of some of the game's premier exponents in that department.

Can Hooper ever see himself playing anywhere else, given his attributes?

"It's about fitting into a side," Hooper says. "I just want to add, as best as I can, in whatever position I'm picked in in a team. I do love playing No.7. I love that role. It can be interpreted many ways."

While comment sections might be a no go for Hooper these days – he reckons all young up-and-coming footy players stalk the internet to see what people are saying – he doesn't have to go there any more to know how he is perceived.

"Like you see in the press so much of the time, you've got guys who are hard on the ball, you've got guys who contribute a bit more in different parts of the game, you've got your taller, bigger sevens who have their impact that way," Hooper explains. "Because you have a licence to do what you want to do at seven, I don't see my role as hard and fast. You want to have a couple of different involvements in the game.

"Rugby's so subjective about who and what player you want to pick in a position and it seems the back row is so focused on that all the time. It's like every position, you just deal with it."

As for his longevity, Hooper isn't exactly sure why he's able to play more minutes than most. He isn't a gym junkie, is pretty run of the mill when it comes to recovery and doesn't have any secret formula.

Hooper doesn't, however, like the idea of being benched. At all.

"When everyone's tired and things open up, you don't want to miss that," he says. "You want to be on the field in those pressure moments, so that's awesome [I get to do that]. I've been lucky, touch wood, it can stay that way and I stay on the field in the best parts of the game, the last 10 minutes, 20 minutes."

While his form has been not too dissimilar to other years, Hooper acknowledges how tough it has been for the Wallabies in 2016.

On reflection, he believes the best it got was at the World Cup, in terms of the support from Australian fans.

He is extremely motivated to help the team succeed, but has no intention of doing things other than his way.

"There's some adversity we've had to work through this year, so I'm glad I'm apart of this year's stuff," he says. "I'm glad I was apart of last year's stuff and every team has a different story to tell. As you get older and experience more in the jersey, seeing how much people have given to the Wallabies, you want to repay them and also be a part of it."