In August 2006 Hooper and Christine Latham refused to attend two exhibition games against China and fell into dispute with team coach Even Pellerud. Along with a third disgruntled player, Sharolta Nonen, they publicly called for Pellerud's removal. Alleging he had pressured them to break their club contracts in order to join Vancouver Whitecaps and had tried to fix the outcome of a USL W-League play-off by releasing certain national team players but not others. Pellerud suspended the players and terminated their funding. In June 2007 an arbitrator ruled in favor of the coach. Hooper's replacement as captain Christine Sinclair strongly criticized the players' actions: "They let down their teammates and since then have done nothing to rectify it. I wouldn't want them as teammates."