Michael Hooper, Quade Cooper not right role models - Eddie Jones

Australia coach Eddie Jones has opened up on the controversial omission of veterans Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper from the World Cup squad.

Hooper, who was the Wallabies captain leading to the World Cup but he along with Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley were left out of the 33-man squad by Jones, who took over the coaching role from Dave Rennie earlier in the year.

The Wallabies boss cited that the trio were not obsessed with winning anymore which was the reason for their omission and invested his faith in a young squad with Will Skelton captaining them.

The move though backfired as they became the first ever Wallaby squad to be eliminated in the opening round of a World Cup.

"The situation reminded me of when Wayne Bennett let Wally Lewis go," Jones told Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Fitzsimons.

"No one could quite understand why, but Wally Lewis wasn't a great role model for the rest of the team. And for those guys, I don't think they were the right role models for the team going forward.

"Don't get me wrong. They're not bad guys. But you need guys - particularly when you've got a team like Australia has at the moment - you need guys who are obsessed with winning, obsessed with being good, and those three are past those stages."

The comments from Jones comes as he is set to reunite with Hooper as he is one of the co-coach for Barbarians for the game against Wales on 4th November. Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota, Angus Bell and Rob Valentini are the other Australians in the Barbarians squad which will be coached by incoming All Blacks coach Scott Robertson.