Former Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday hitman Hooper was handed a Designated Player deal and is tasked with scoring the goals to take Wellington into the top six of the A-League, and hes slowly letting his performances do the talking.
Against Newcastle Jets on Friday night the forward didn’t score but was able to put in a highly physical performance and displayed the awareness and subtlety of touch that marks him as a class above the rest of his teammates.
Better and Better
It’s been a waiting game in terms of Hooper’s fitness, but fellow front man David Ball isn’t concerned with that. “Gary is trying his best to get back to full fitness,” he said. “He’s not played 90 minutes for a few years. He’s doing everything he can away from the pitch to make sure he’s fit and ready to play and the fitter he gets the better he’ll be for us and the better he’ll make us.”
Hooper has completed one 90 minutes this season and got taken off after 85 on Friday, but has started the last four games and looks well placed to continue his run of minutes for the rest of the season.
Needs Help
Some may have expected him to notch more than those two goals but a striker needs service and this is one aspect the Phoenix need to work on. And head coach Ufuk Talay agrees: “Yeah I think Hoops did a good job, if I didn’t think it was good to start with him I wouldn’t have started with him. For me, he’s a very influential player and he needs the service, with our deliveries in the box and he’ll score goals for us. He’s a very important player.”
But the building blocks are there for the Nix and Hooper to have a very productive season together.