Store COPY of a worksheet in worksheet variable - vba

Question

What I want to achieve:
I want to assign copy of a worksheet to variable, for later use.
What I tried and results
First : The code below works fine. Something like this I would like to achieve, but using worksheet.copy.
Sub DuplicateSheetRenameFirst()
Dim wsDuplicate As Worksheet
Set wsDuplicate = Worksheets.Add
wsDuplicate.Name = "Duplicate"
End Sub
Second : Using the copy method, creates a worksheet in current workbook, but generates a Runtime error 424 - Object required.
Sub DuplicateSheetRenameSecond()
Dim wsDuplicate As Worksheet
Set wsDuplicate = Worksheets("Sheet1").Copy(after:=Worksheets(Worksheets.Count))
'above line : runtime error 424 object required, but the sheet is created
wsDuplicate.Name = "Duplicate"
End Sub
Third : Creates a worksheet in new workbook (so creates book, then sheet), but still generates the same Runtime error 424 - Object required.
Sub DuplicateSheetRenameThird()
Dim wsDuplicate As Worksheet
Set wsDuplicate = Worksheets("Sheet1").Copy
'above line : runtime error 424 object required, but the sheet is created in new workbook
wsDuplicate.Name = "Duplicate"
End Sub
Workaround : I can modify any of the second or third way to at first copy the sheet and then set the variable to activesheet, but I was wandering if there is a one step way of doing this. I'm not sure if this would work all the time, since the activesheet may not be the one just copied, maybe.
The Question:
Is there a simple (one step) way to store the copy of a worksheet in a variable? Preferably without errors or without filtering the error with error handler.

Answer 1

This is maybe ok?
Sub copySheet()
Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet
Excel.ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").Copy After:=Sheets(1)
Set ws = Excel.ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet
End Sub
It is unfortunate that in this case you need to use an Active... object. Generally it is good practice to avoid Active... objects.
You cannot do this though as the method .copy is not returning an object of the worksheet class:
Sub copySheet()
Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet
Set ws = Excel.ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").Copy(After:=Sheets(1))
End Sub
Some further explanation is in this previous post:
Why does Worksheet.Copy not return a reference to the new workbook created
In MSDN it is not altogether obvious that the method returns nothing:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/office/ff837784.aspx
...but in your friend Excel's Object Explorer it is more obvious. If it returned a worksheet object then by the arrow would read:
Sub Copy([Before], [After]) as Worksheet