David Pocock, the former Australia captain described by Sam Warburton as "not so much a thorn in the side of opposition teams, as a human JCB", has gone from rugby great to Australian senator. The Wallabies legend, who retired in 2020 at age 32, now represents the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as its first independent senator, having been re-elected last year with doubled support.
From Rugby Field to Political Arena
Pocock won 83 international caps, played at three Rugby World Cups, and earned three nominations for World Rugby's Player of the Year award before retiring. He had started a Masters degree in sustainable agriculture during his playing career and initially focused on conservation efforts in Zimbabwe, his country of birth, overseeing a biodiversity and regeneration project.
One year after retiring, he announced his intention to run for the Australian Senate in the 2022 election, running as "a voice for people sick of 'politics as usual'". He unseated Liberal incumbent Zed Seselj to become the first independent senator for the ACT.
Fitness and New Life
His policy platform focuses on climate action, cost of living relief, and government integrity. Now 38, Pocock remains in remarkable shape, as shown in a social media post from August last year featuring workouts and cold plunges in the Murrumbidgee River.
"If I don't at least do some sort of exercise in the morning, I just never do it," Pocock told the Sydney Morning Herald. "You can spend the entire day inside [parliament]. You get there, the sun isn't up; you're leaving, sun's down."
"I think I've become a lot kinder to myself," he continued. "As an athlete, you rely on your body but you're also punishing it, like it's kind of a tool of your trade, almost, and so you're constantly sort of pushing it to the edge. And that certainly takes its toll."
