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Now the dust has settled on the latest train wreck called Australian Test rugby, it’s a good time to re-visit the question of selecting overseas based Australian players in order to solve the current Wallaby woes.
It is so easy to say yes, yes, yes, especially after watching the Springboks’ overseas players perform so well last week.
But that is such a simplistic solution and what is good for the goose is not necessary good for the gander. Every country’s landscape tends to be unique and presents different challenges.
To prove the point, let’s look at the two juggernauts either side of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
New Zealand is definitely in the ‘no pick’ camp.
They bank on the pull of the black jersey to keep their best current and up-and-coming talent hooked and remaining in the country.
Amazingly, in this day and age of professionalism, it works up to a point and they only loose a small number of All Blacks and mostly towards the end of their careers.
Of course they do occasionally lose players they’d rather not (Carl Hayman, Nick Evans and Luke McAlister come to mind), but seem to cope and replace them without too much fuss.
But their perception is also that players spending time in northern hemisphere leagues almost need to be ‘re-educated’ on their return.
McAlister became very much a fringe player on his return and headed back disillusioned to the northern hemisphere before the 2011 World Cup (ironic when you consider what happened to the All Blacks’ fly half stocks during the tournament).
The gain for them is that it keeps top talent playing in their local feeder competitions, making them competitive and ensuring the production line of top talent keeps flowing on. The current quality of the ITM Cup a testament to that.
Now South Africa is moving very quickly to the ‘pick’ club. I suspect the haemorrhaging of talent overseas due to the low value of the rand and the high financial rewards offered elsewhere make it very tough for players to stay.
They obviously feel (surprisingly) their up-and-coming stocks are not good enough to compensate for this massive drain.
Also, unlike the McAlister example above, they are happy that overseas Boks drafted in are up to standard straight away, Francois Lowe and Fourie du Preez (in his short cameo) being classic recent examples.
On the flip side, I don’t think Francois Steyn ever hit his previous heights on his return from France.
The danger of their policy is if at some stage it begins to seriously denigrate their Super/Currie Cup teams, to the point where they become uncompetitive, can they then keep their very parochial crowds interested?
It hasn’t reached that stage yet and I guess even the European Clubs and Japan must have a saturation point for overseas talent. I await some of our Saffa friends’ comments with interest.
Now, Australia. The challenges here are unique and the structures and landscape are all topsy-turvy in comparison to the other two.
Also, unlike them, Australia faces crippling competition from the other two compatible football codes (I’ll ignore soccer), who appear to have much better administrative structures and professional set ups.
Under these handicaps it is absolutely astounding and a constant sense of wonder to me that Australia has managed consistently to put a competitive team on the field, and during short periods in the past has actually dominated the rugby world and won two World Cups.
However I fear the chickens are now coming home to roost.
With the onset of professionalism and this upside-down pyramid structure, the problems arise when injuries hit or a lean period in terms of talent development strikes – as is the case at present.
The demands on the limited playing stock are immense and arguably one of the main reason for the injuries.
That is when the call for selecting overseas talent becomes louder, but that scares me as it could potentially be the final nail in Australia’s rugby coffin.
I can see the temptation to bringing back a George Smith, and god how the Wallabies needed him last weekend, but he is an exception and a freak. If I was selecting a world team he would be there, bracketed with Richie McCaw.
But to automatically assume a Matt Giteau and others could walk in and perform to the required standard facing the Boks or All Blacks after overseas club rugby is open to debate.
However the main issue is the moment Australia selects overseas players there will very likely be an exodus.
Unlike South Africa and New Zealand, Australia cannot restock its Super Rugby franchises with local talent and keep them competitive. It can hardly do so now without league converts, Kiwis, Pacific Islanders and South Africans.
So where is your next generation of players going to come from? Can’t anybody see the danger?
The search for instant success also inherently carries the seeds of destruction. What little money the ARU has after years of mismanagement and wastage is squandered by trying to buy success rather than grow it.
What is my solution? Start at the top, the current management structures and priorities are rotten.
Parochialism is rife, fine, but when you reach the dizzy heights of the ARU top echelon, leave it at home.
Focus at growing the game below Super Rugby level and encouraging the development of that elusive level below is paramount.
That additional layer below (the Super nursery) should be non-negotiable. It almost doesn’t matter what form it takes, clubs, regional, ITM participation (if possible) or private ownership with controls.
Something really watchable, that can be packaged for television but fills that yawning gap that currently exists between Super Rugby and the next level. Sport is now a business and it has to present offerings to its followers/customers.
Hopefully it would be self-funding quickly, but if not, the financial hit is worth taking. The New Zealand Rugby Union runs the ITM cup at a loss, but it helps to keep their Super teams (consisting mostly of local players) competitive, and enhances the sponsor appeal of their top brand, the All Blacks.
I am horrified (if the hearsay is correct) at the salaries Super and Wallaby players command in comparison to their trans-Tasman and South African counterparts, and also at the pay of ARU top staff if the rumours of John O’Neil’s salary are correct.
Good though he might turn out to be, the signing of expensive league players like Israel Folau solves nothing, the ARU and Super franchises can’t afford to sign 15 of them.
The desperation with which he was courted was obscene, and at the end of the day he was an unproven acquisition and a massive gamble over whom doubts are already surfacing.
Trim everything to a comparable level with our main competitors and start investing. A few players might be lost but you will be assured the ones remaining want that jersey really badly.
I feel the long suffering Australian rugby public switching off in droves at the moment might even stick around through some lean times if they could see that there was a plan and a light at the end of the tunnel – short term pain for long term gain.
The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.
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.