Should the NSWRU attempt to get Carter?
Roar Guru By Greg Russell, 23 Apr 2009 Greg Russell is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Dan Carter, NSWRU, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
There has been much gnashing of teeth this week about the poor losing form of the Waratahs. At the same time, last weekend’s New Zealand papers ran a story that Dan Carter may return from his Perpignan sabbatical as an Auckland rather than a Canterbury player.
Currently our good man is contracted to the NZRU, but has no provincial attachment.
The reasons advanced for Auckland are that his girlfriend, ex-New Zealand hockey player Honor Dillon, lives there, as does his best mate, Ali Williams (Memo to David Nucifora – he may be a Comical Ali, but his teammates really like him, so it’s best not to wage war with him).
Doubtless, it is also highly relevant that Auckland is the centre of business in New Zealand, and that the Carter brand is big business these days.
Mixing all the above lines of thought together, another idea occurs: why not Sydney for Dan Carter?
If business opportunities are a driving force, then Sydney makes Auckland look like, well, Christchurch.
If the NSWRU was able to offer Andrew Johns north of $500k a year to switch to rugby, then they should certainly be able to offer Carter a very attractive financial package.
The ARU is not an issue, because it has given Australian franchises the green light to recruit a marquee foreigner, a right exercised by Queensland this year in signing Daniel Braid.
The NZRU is potentially an issue, in that officially a player is only eligible for the All Blacks if he is playing in New Zealand.
But everyone knows that one day this levee is going to break.
It would be hard for the NZRU to argue against New Zealand eligibility if Carter were playing in Sydney because it is as close to Auckland as is Dunedin, and because Carter would be playing in exactly the same competition as all other New Zealand-eligible players.
Not to mention that the NZRU would be idiotic to exclude their gifted pivot.
Certainly Carter is exactly what the Waratahs need.
For years they have been a team replete with solid foot soldiers who have lacked only a brilliant general to direct them around the park. That would be Carter.
If Robbie Deans can relocate to Sydney, then why not his star pupil?
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- Dan Carter, NSWRU, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
April 23rd 2009 @ 3:27am
sportym said | April 23rd 2009 @ 3:27am | Report comment
There is no way Carter would give up playing for the All Blacks to play for the Tahs. The NZRU would also look silly if they did allow him to play for the Tahs and then play for the ABs. I also do not think that the ARU would allow is, we really need to develop decent fly-halfs in Australia, having and All Black play for one of our 4 provinces will in no way help our player development. If the force go for an non Australian to replace gits, we are really in trouble.
April 23rd 2009 @ 7:04am
Sin-ick said | April 23rd 2009 @ 7:04am | Report comment
I disagree sportym,
Another problem we have at the Tah’s is that our backs are all very young and inexperienced. Tom Carter, Rob Horne, Lachlan Turner, Timana Tahu, all still learning the game. And who do we have running these young guys on game day? Kurtley Beale??
What we really need is an experienced player to teach these backs how to play properly. I think if someone like Dan Carter came across to the Tah’s what he would teach the rest of the backline as well as the other 5/8′s in the squad would be well worth the price tag he would be paid.
April 23rd 2009 @ 7:27am
allblackfan said | April 23rd 2009 @ 7:27am | Report comment
NEVER!!
April 23rd 2009 @ 7:32am
Jerry said | April 23rd 2009 @ 7:32am | Report comment
“It would be hard for the NZRU to argue against New Zealand eligibility if Carter were playing in Sydney because it is as close to Auckland as is Dunedin”
Er…no, it’s not. Sydney-Auckland is more than twice as far as Auckland-Dunedin.
April 23rd 2009 @ 8:05am
True Tah said | April 23rd 2009 @ 8:05am | Report comment
Greg
the responses here show that too many Kiwis wouldn’t be able to stomach the fact that one of their best would be wearing the sky blue and playing against their boys.
If he did play for the Tahs, it would give our crowds a huge boost, hell a lot more females would probably go to games, wouldnt have to drag my partner to Tahs games (although the way we’ve been playing I feel like Im dragging myself!) – we would appreciate him more than he is in Crusaders, where they sold out two games last year (v the Blues and the final against the Tahs).
IMO if we are willing to shell out a shitload for Tuqiri and Tahu, then why not Carter? Given he should be as paid at least as much as those two, then maybe those guys will start looking at other options.
April 23rd 2009 @ 8:15am
Nick (KIA) said | April 23rd 2009 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Geez…I don’t know where to start.
You could have scored higher on the ‘crazyideasometer’ by suggesting he play at hooker. Oh no wait, Phil Waugh’s already got that sewn up.
Why, beyond a larger stack of cash, would Carter want to do this? And if cash were his motivation, why is he not staying on in Europe? The Tahs (and no one in the SH) is in a position to outbid Europe (at least currently).
The NZRU won’t (or must not) change the eligibility critera to include Aus based players for exactly the reasons you outline – they need their ABs playing in NZ franchises to develop new talent coming through to ensure AB brand remains strong. They should cut Carter if he chose to play in Aus, despite him being the best back we’ve produced in a generation. He’s that because of their systems – he wouldn’t have been so good if Merts and Mauger were playing for the Reds when he started.
April 23rd 2009 @ 8:22am
LeftArmSpinner said | April 23rd 2009 @ 8:22am | Report comment
The answer is yes, but! and the BUT is that unless the Waratahs change their playing strategy, there is no point in having anyone other than a B grade 10 who can kick and tackle.
Carter is a proven all round 10. His stats show that he can kick, pass, run, tackle and do them at the most appropriate times in a game, dependent on what is in front of him and his field position. In other words, he has speed of mind to be able to sum up the situation quickly and also predict the best play and how to maximise the following plays.
This is hardly of much use to the current Tahs tactics.
April 23rd 2009 @ 8:52am
sunshinecoaster said | April 23rd 2009 @ 8:52am | Report comment
Pie in the sky stuff,the fact is he has to play in NZ to be able to play for the All Blacks
Would be far better head hunting a first five from europe,say somebody like Glen Jackson or Wilkinson,maybe even Carlos Spencer
April 23rd 2009 @ 8:58am
Sam Taulelei said | April 23rd 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
It’s interesting that whenever the idea is thrown up about player movement within SANZAR countries it’s assumed that the traffic will all be one-way i.e Kiwi players would sign for Australian sides presumably because of the higher salaries the ARU could offer.
If money is the driving factor then why would Carter or anyone else not also consider a South African side? Also if the eligibility rules are relaxed to allow players to travel and play freely among the SANZAR countries without affecting their national selection what’s to say that the NZ S14 sides don’t make a big play for some of the marquee and promising Aussie players? Australian rugby players are no more ambitious than their Kiwi and Saffa counterparts and they’ll stand a better chance of winning a title playing for a Kiwi side than an Aussie team. I’m sure that some of the Aussie backs would actually enjoy getting to run with the ball alongside the likes of Masaga, Nonu, Sivivatu, Ranger, Rocokoko and Kahui etc and they’ll also regain some confidence which can only help their chances of getting selected for the Wallabies. Maybe some of your promising props would love to receive the benefits of Mike Cron’s tutelage in learning how to scrum.
It’s a very narrow and arrogant perspective to assume that Australia would be the only country to benefit from player movement.
April 23rd 2009 @ 9:24am
Hammer said | April 23rd 2009 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Forget the Carter issue it won’t happen … if he’s thinking Akld it for one thing and one thing only … the girlfriend’s there …. as Jerry points out NZ is rather small (and not the width of the Tasman) .. so living in CHCH wouldn’t effect his comercialisation that much …. NZRFU aren’t going to change there critia any time soon and he wants to be an AB – otherwise he’d have gone north full time ..
. “but everyone knows that one day this levee is going to break” … do we really ? and do the ARU really want that to happen … as Sam has pointed out “It’s a very narrow and arrogant perspective to assume that Australia would be the only country to benefit from player movement” … I read someone yesterday that in Qld’s run on side for this weekend there’s 8 NZ born players in their line up … and i’m sure there’s plenty of others in the other squads as well …. open the floodgates and the NZRFU could start to target aussie resident kiwis – plus surely opening up the sides would clog the path for developing young australian talent …