After being elevated to the role of Western Force captain for the upcoming Super Rugby season, David Pocock is determined not to let the prospect of a Wallabies leadership role distract him.
Force coach Richard Graham confirmed on Monday that world-class flanker Pocock would take over as skipper from Nathan Sharpe, who led the club for their first six seasons.
The move came with the backing of 34-year-old Sharpe, who is in the last year of his contract and likely nearing the end of his Australian club career.
But Pocock, who got a brief taste of Australia's top job when he captained the Wallabies against the Barbarians on last year's tour of the UK and when James Horwill left the World Cup bronze play-off with injury with 10 minutes to go, is more focused on his club duties for now.
"I’m pretty keen to see how I go with the Force first," the 23-year-old said when asked if he'd like to captain Australia one day.
"Over the past 12 months there have been discussions between me and [Graham] and Nathan so it wasn’t a surprise [to be made captain]."
"It’s obviously something I think is good for the club going forward and I’m pretty excited to be involved in this role."
Graham said he was confident Pocock, the youngest captain of an Australian Super Rugby team, would thrive in the leadership role.
"I think the work he does off the field shows how selfless he is as a character, and in serving the team that will be very important," the coach said.
"He leads by example and sets high standards for himself."
Meanwhile, Graham said the Force were still weighing up their options regarding a replacement for fly-half Willie Ripia, who left the club in early January after he was caught stealing from his team-mates.
"I’ve got a lot of names and I’ve been scouring the world," he said.
"I’m just going to wait until after this first trial on the weekend and see if we come away with any injuries and see if we’re in good shape. I’ll make a decision on that in the next 10 days or two weeks."
James Stannard - a scrum-half who filled in admirably when given no. 10 duties late last season - and uncapped pair Ben Seymour and Kyle Godwin are the Force's only recognised fly-halves.