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The ARU needs to rethink the strength of our current third tier. At the moment, after the Super season, non-Test Super players are returning to the club ranks, mainly in Sydney, but also Queensland, ACT, West Australia, and (hopefully) soon to be Victoria, as well.
While this is good for club rugby in these parts, it is potentially too broad-a-spread to be helpful for player development among the third tier.
On the other hand, players folding back into only certain club teams is also unhelpful for club rugby in general.
The hope by some, for Super players to return only to the Sydney and Qld club competitions, is also unhelpful for rugby development in the rest of Australia.
The suggestion that a competition be established involving only select clubs from Sydney and Queensland, plus one team each from other parts of Australia, is also problematic (even with promotion and relegation), since most of the current clubs in Sydney and Queensland (not to mention everywhere else) will miss out on selection to this competition.
It also overestimates the appeal of the current Sydney and Queensland clubs to the wider public. They will always be severely restricted to engage spectators on a wider basis by their very nature.
This is where the now defunct ARC fits in.
The ARC idea promised to hit a number of nails on the head that would be good for Australian rugby: national glory for the fans and teams, more professional teams for players, coaches, etc, better player development to provide a better stepping-stone to Super Rugby, and so on.
However, while helpful in many of these ways, it was never going to be helpful enough to balance the financial burden it created.
To relieve this burden created by travel/accommodation expenses, a broadcaster was needed to take it on.
However, it was always going to be too limited in its marketability for a broadcaster to take on and seriously promote without the Wallabies (and possibly even the Australia A players).
This has left Australian rugby with few options to strengthen the third tier, it would seem, except to have an academy/Super B team tournament at some stage of the year.
This would be much more helpful for player development and establishing a stronger stepping stone to Super Rugby from the current club set-up.
Assuming the next Super franchise is in Victoria/Melbourne, one option is to play the tournament after the Super season and have the ARU establish an extra barbarians team made up of the best club players to play out of somewhere like Western Sydney.
While the six teams would be playing for a trophy, perhaps the real prize could be the chance to be selected in a true Possibles Vs Probables match after the Tri-nations, involving all the Wallabies, and perhaps be picked for the end of year tour.
All this has been said before, of course, but are the Roarers convinced this is rugby’s best option in Australia?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.