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With the increasing numbers of Australian players signing with European and other overseas clubs, the debate over the Australian Rugby Union’s willingness to select overseas-based players rages on.
I believe the solution is quite simple, but perhaps I’m missing something and the good readers of The Roar could help pick a few holes in my argument.
Why can’t the ARU adopt a policy whereby players will continue to be eligible for the Wallabies, regardless of where they play club rugby, after that player has reached a threshold number of Wallaby caps?
Now, what that number is could be calculated by smarter people, but I would think somewhere around 50 caps.
This would mean a player has spent around four to five years in the Test side. But it depends how flexible the policy-makers want to be.
For me I see a few benefits.
Firstly, it would allow those players who have already given good service to the domestic game to explore overseas options, while not weakening the Wallabies.
Secondly, it would create a pseudo sixth Super Rugby franchise for Aussie depth. As an established player heads overseas, a place is opened up for a hungry youngster to get exposure to Super Rugby with his province.
Most importantly, this won’t see large swathes of talent leaving these shores and weakening the Super Rugby product in an irreparable way. In the current Wallaby squad for example, if we took 50 caps as the threshold, then this would only affect seven players: Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Will Genia, Wycliff Palu, James Horwill and James Slipper.
From the injury list we could also add Quade Cooper, while David Pocock is on 45 caps.
So if this rule were introduced, with 50 caps as the threshold, then at the current time only seven current Wallaby players from the combined five Super Rugby franchises would be eligible to play overseas and still be available for Wallaby selection.
It’s unlikely that all of them would want to go overseas either, so Super Rugby would probably not need to replace them all.
This change would not weaken the Wallaby side, with all these players still available for national duty. In fact, we would also add a few to the list available for selection such as Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Digby Ioane and Berrick Barnes.
This suggestion differs from the sabbaticals which we have seen across the Tasman. As when a person decides he wants to move to the other side of the world, it’s not just the money, but the whole experience, and I’m sure many players would not want to uproot themselves and their family just for three to six months.
This option allows players to be eligible for the Wallabies indefinitely, as long as their form warrants selection.
It’s also fair to say that this rule would be unlikely to stop players like Kane Douglas leaving these shores, as he currently has 14 Wallaby caps, and may not be willing to wait several years to make his move. So this won’t solve the problem of the loss of promising players early in their careers.
But perhaps if they knew this was an option, then players would be more willing to stay and play domestically for a few years in order to hit that threshold.
This to me seems like a simple and workable option which doesn’t solve all problems, but solves a few. Am I missing something?
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.