The current fuss about releasing Super 14 players to their clubs adds to the sense that things aren’t quite what they seem to be.
Players are nominally ‘available’ to play, but there are circumstances that prevent them from appearing in their club colours. I have not seen it discussed here, but it does not seem too far-fetched to suggest that in some cases player’s agents may have as much to do with who shows up where as do Super 14 coaches and team medical staff.
There are several very compelling factors to suggest that an agent would try to influence the process.
The overriding and most obvious of these is the agent’s personal stake in the player’s financial future. A healthy player on the way up (outside of the current Wallaby squad) will show up regularly and frequently to press his case. Once in the top tier, the incentive to risk exposure, not to injury but to being shown up by a lesser known opponent, drops measurably.
While this may sound somewhat implausible to some, in real terms this is much more of a risk than a physical injury.
How so?
Precisely because it is possible to insure against physical injury and financial losses related to injury – even career ending injury.
Actuaries can handle that sort of proposition and write insurance. Financial loss associated with being outplayed is an entirely different category of exotica and falls into the realm of uncertainty (no history,no statistics, no insurance).
While this phenomenon undoubtedly existed in a minor way back through sports history, the emergence of an upper tier of professional players and more significantly professional player management has served to bring the issue to a ‘professional’ level.
For rugby, the professional era brought with it acknowledgment of the existence of pragmatic (cynical?) ‘professional fouls’ during a match. Those are now dealt with by handing out yellow and red cards.
These sanctions dramatically increase the impact of what are often otherwise considered minor infractions.
The idea that professional rugby players might avoid club competition may seem odd but it has significant precedent in other sports.
Boxers won’t box, runners won’t run if there is a chance that losing cannot be rationalized successfully. The phenomenon should not be discounted in the rugby context.
If Cross is outplayed by Mortlock in a Super 14 match it isn’t the end of the world. If Cross is outplayed by Unknown in a club match, eyebrows are raised and notes are taken. Super 14, ARU, and lucrative overseas prospects in Wallaby retirement are all impacted.
Believe what you like.
The financial incentive that matters is in place and its impact cannot be minimized. Addressing this issue isn’t as simple as yellow and red cards. If there are no institutional checks to mitigate this, it will progressively (further) undermine both the quality of club competition and the Wallabies.
While not the intent, this is another argument in favor of an all-in domestic competition
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May 27th 2009 @ 12:59pm
Worlds Biggest said | May 27th 2009 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
I know what your implying here but not sure if I agree with it. It is in the players best interest to be playing as much rugby as possible no matter what level. Players involved in endless camps but not actually playing doesn’t do them any good compared to having a run in Grade Rugby. What if he get’s a call up to the National squad but is underdone because of a lack of rugby ?. I don’t think the agent will be doing handstands if the player is thrown in unprepared. Yes there is a risk some young upstart in Grade will outshine the established player but that is a defeatist attitide. The young upstart will always want to make his mark against the established player. I don’t think it is the agent at fault here. I think Tony Dempsey and RUPA have to be answerable on this matter. Our players have it easy compared to most other Major playing Nations when it comes to work load.
May 27th 2009 @ 1:25pm
AndyS said | May 27th 2009 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
…..But as one Wallaby of recent vintage told the Capgemini conference, run in May 2006 to get the Australian Rugby Championship off the ground, what’s in it for the professional pitting himself against the amateurs?
“You’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in me and yet here you are de-skilling me,” the player told the conference.
“What’s more, you’re leaving me open to getting injured.”…
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23340173-23217,00.html
May 27th 2009 @ 2:59pm
ozxile said | May 27th 2009 @ 2:59pm | Report comment
Worlds Biggest, I understand your skepticism. Perhaps another read of the post will clarify that we are not talking about rugby as we might like it to be – or any other sport for that matter. Rocky Elsom’s decision about where to play will have far more to do with his long term rugby financial interests than parochial rugby sentiments. His agent will see to that.
When rugby turned professional in Australia players agents stepped up and attached a price tag to both the S14 and Wallaby jerseys Agents are part of management. No player with a good agent/manager just gets up on Saturday morning and says to himself ‘I think I’ll go have a run with the boys – maybe turn out for the 2nds and then see if they need me as a sub for the 1sts’.