Australian Rugby has effectively turned a new page by signing 25-year-old Wallabies and Waratahs flyhalf Bernard Foley to a three-year contract extension.
The ARU have announced that as part of the agreement, Foley will also be entitled to spend two seasons playing Rugby in the Japanese domestic competition.
On the plus side, the contract ensures that Foley is available for the Wallabies and the Waratahs until the end of 2018.
One question is just how available?
Without knowing the details of the agreement and the 2016-2018 match schedules, it is difficult to answer this question with certainty.
The first game of the Japanese rugby season in 2014 began on 23rd August 2014 with the All Japan Championship Final taking place on 28th February 2015.
In Australia Round 1 of the Super Rugby competition began on February 13, 2015. The Super Rugby Final is scheduled for July 4, 2015.
The 2015 Rugby Championships begin on Saturday 18th July 2015 and finish on Saturday 15th August 2015.
A better guide, however, could be the 2014 Rugby Championships, which took place between 16th August and 4th October
Depending on the schedule for 2016, one can see why Cheika is supportive of the idea of flexible contracts in limited circumstances.
Given the fact that the ARU has been in a precarious financial position (which should see significant improvement in 2016), it is also understandable why CEO Bill Pulver has been flexible in his approach to retaining what the ARU sees as key currently contracted Wallabies.
Since his appointment as CEO in 2013, Pulver has been in the unenviable situation of trying to work from the top down, with very limited resources, rather than the preferred position of being cashed up enough to be able to invest in grassroots and strengthen Australian rugby’s base. Given that professional rugby is the income engine for the code, it is understandable that the short term focus has been at the pointy end of rugby.
However, if the ARU receives an additional reported $15.5 million a year from the new Fox/Ten deal beginning in 2016, it will have the opportunity to address this imbalance between grassroots and professional rugby.
The fact that the SANZAR broadcasting rights are sold in US dollars, rather than the falling Australian dollar, is also a benefit, resulting in a significant increase in the rights values for the ARU.
While this expected increase is not the panacea for all the issues in Australian rugby, if wisely applied, the revenue from the new broadcasting deal should enable rugby to get back on its feet, to the extent that some much needed focus can be placed on the development of the game.
To his credit, Pulver has been able to get the National Rugby Championship off the ground during a very challenging period, without incurring any significant debts, and its continuation until at least 2020 is virtually assured with the new broadcasting deal.
So, the bigger question is whether or not there is a need for flexible contracts of the nature secured by Bernard Foley or whether the ARU should have stuck to its previous position of not selecting foreign-based players?
It seems with the advent of professional rugby, a lot of people consider professional sport to be simply be a business and as such, self-interest is the order of the day.
Now please don’t get me wrongm I do not blame Foley in the slightest for wanting to butter his bread on both sides. He has a short time window to maximise his earning capacity and he has capitalised on this. I have no doubt he also wants to continue playing for the Wallabies – who wouldn’t?
While Foley himself is understandably thrilled with the outcome, I am yet to be convinced that his reason for playing overseas is ‘ to experience a new culture and Rugby environment’ as stated by him.
Wallabies Coach Michael Cheika said “Flexible contracting is taken into consideration for exceptional circumstances, and I am confident that he will put his own well-being at the front of his priorities and thinking.”
Really? What a surprise.
So let’s call a spade a spade.
Bernard Foley wants to go to Japan because he can earn a mountain of money over there. Rugby players do not usually go to Japan for the cultural experience as many foreign players and coaches who have been over there will tell you. Nor do they go there to improve their rugby.
Foley has signed for the money. Good luck to him. So that takes care of the self-interest from the player’s point of view.
Self-interest cuts both ways, and from the ARU perspective, they no doubt see this as a win/win, given Pulver’s comment that the agreement allows the ARU to re-sign an important player it may have otherwise lost exclusively to an overseas-based club.
The self-interest of the ARU needs to represent the collective interest of the entire Australian rugby community, given that is who the ARU represents.
So will this decision benefit Australian Rugby in the long run or has it opened the floodgates to a turnstile of journeymen, who want to experience the culture of Japan and/or countries? And if so, is that a bad thing?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
This is absolutely ridiculous that anybody who says anything ill of a Waratah is a parochial troll. Foley is not a great 10. That's not my opinion, that's based on having one of the worst years in Wallaby history with him at 10, with many of the losses being on the back of an advantage in both possession and territory. Previous 10's like the oh so flaky Cooper and Larkham used to win games on the back of sub 50% possession and territory. Foley started 12 games at 10 in 2014. Australia won 6 of those. Take out the France series, where Australia rarely loses a series against Euro nations in June, and Foley won 3 of the last 9 games he played at 10. Compare that to 2013. Australia won 5 of the last 8 games, against the same opponents, where Cooper started at 10. I constantly extol the virtues of Michael Hooper over Liam Gill and David Pocock. Don't call me a parochial troll. I'm just biased. Biased towards good footballers. I've been one of the most vocal critics of Will Genia. Because he has not been playing like a quality footballer. Quade Cooper on the other hand has looked quality every time he steps on the field since 2013.
Redbull
Guest
How is getting your property smashed by a second owner a win-win. This is all going to go very badly. Players cannot play the amount of rugby being targeted by this type of system and remain unbroken/unjaded
Justthetip
Guest
He's the type of honest player who will do his absolute best. It's professional sport though so I can't for the life of me see how someone can be held as such an asset when our other options are the ones are opposition would prefer not to face. They could have just kept it quiet till after the World Cup because it sends the message that he's seen internally as a vital component. Frankly it's embarrassing and it's a World Cup year where the mind games are already being played out. It reinforces to Cooper that his services aren't necessary, potentially influencing his future decision. All good coach's have favourites but they're the stars who have what the others don't. Cooper, Folau, Hooper and Pocock are names that spring to mind.
Combesy
Roar Guru
You've got issues mate. I've not once mentioned anything to do with qld. You thought you'd be smart and try to shut me down. But you've added nothing, have no alternative and when it's pointed out you resort to childish insults. Grow up mate, try listening you might learn something
Justthetip
Guest
The fact Foley is called the incumbent when he got his position through injury and kept it with poor test form worries me. That he is being paraded as the first player to take the opportunity now conditionally available is frightening. It's not that I don't think he's good enough to be the chief wallabies playmaker. Its that despite being IMO being a solid and reliable option, not only does he lack the attributes and improvement necessary to be a dominant fly half. He hasn't done anywhere near enough to deserve the honour. The first person selected should have been well thought out so that the value of the jersey is increased, rewarding a loyal contributor who has battle scars to prove it and still has more to give. The decision to have Foley declared the first has weak undertones of trying to entice players to stay instead using the carrot to show players, we don't mind you having the freedom but when it comes to the gold jersey proven team players are taken care of. Players being able to make money and test themselves abroad shouldn't be mutually exclusive from being loyal to the wallabies. However every effort must be made to show that the highest respect comes from positive contributions to the wallabies.
jeznez
Roar Guru
There already is a Europe option. I thought there was only a Japan and a 7s set of options after reading the article from The Australian but RK supplied this link from the ARU's site and Europe is also on the cards. http://www.rugby.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1699/ArticleID/12291/Australian-Rugby-Union-approve-changes-to-player-contracting.aspx
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Magic Sponge it's actually laughable how full of bias, stupid, and off the mark your comments are. You claim a 10 cemented their spot in a tour where his team lost 3/4 games and had a significant territory and possession advantage in each game. I don't know how he set up so many tries when the team scored less than 2 tries per game. You actually live in an alternate universe. I'll give you a pointer, if you have no possession and territory and lose, it's the forwards fault, if you have plenty and still lose, it's the backs' fault.
MAJB
Guest
Sheek, no, no, no! Modern players should be on win, lose or draw payments. It seems to me that honour is no longer an incentive for the modern Rugby player. Introduce incentive through the hip pocket.
Daz
Guest
The question as I see it is not should we let Foley play in Japan and then be selected for the Wallabies but if Cooper goes to Europe and discovers a purple patch should we select him then? He doesn't deserve to be selected now. He's flaky. He cracks under pressure. He's a confidence player and who knows which persona will turn up on any given day. I say open it up and let the old stagers and journeymen move on and let's welcome new, young players to fresh opportunities before they are enticed into the arms of the NRL and the AFL.
Matthew
Guest
It's fairly simple what the ARU have to do. They need to except they are basically bankrupt. The sooner they except this the better. Anyway here's my proposal to the ARU on Wallaby selection. The announced "flexible contract" with Japan and the ARU is fantastic, but maybe not enough, well personally I don't think enough. European based players have to be excepted in my opinion, epically up front. There is a massive emphasise on the set-piece in Europe which can be valuable to the Wallabies. But as we are aware the Japan-ARU flexible contract can be worked around, as for much of the time, their seasons don't clash where as in Europe they do. So what I think, when it comes to the June Test Series, players in Europe do not get selected - call it their recovery time. They basically have June to August which is more or less what you get in Super Rugby, December to February. This means when it comes to the June Test Series, home based players can state their claim for a test Jersey ahead of The Rugby Championship and End-of-year tour, similar to what Argentina did pre 2016. Another scenario is that, they do the above, but to keep home grown talent in Australia, selectors should only choose European based players as a last resort. If a player in a certain position is clearly better than the home grown talent then they should be excepted, like England and Wales, extreme circumstances *cough cough* Steffon Armitage. Or maybe, say in a 32-man squad, selectors are only aloud to have X amount of European based players in the team. Say 6? This should be introduced for 2016, as for 2015, any Australian qualified player should be able to play in such a big year. In the World Cup, if a player get injured, then Cheika will call up a player. However, because of how long it will take for a player to get from Australia, then recover from jet lag, and train, Cheika should be aloud to dip in to the European resources! Worst case scenario, Folau gets injured in the opening match against Fiji on the 23rd. Then his replacement gets injured in the second match on the 27th. Well the called-up player to replace Folau probably wouldn't have landed until the 26th, then is expected to play like 5 days later. Tough ask!
Kaks
Roar Guru
You're the one missing the point Combesy, but as you clearly have a sick obsession with QLD and are anti-anythingotherthanQLD i will leave you to sook alone
Combesy
Roar Guru
Well apologies mate because I honestly have no intentions to discriminate or demean someone. I don't mind the banter, some don't. Maybe I'll turn it down, in the end we all want to see the wallabies do well... Even the kiwi's
pjm
Roar Rookie
I honestly didn't take it like that. I'm a hybrid QLD/NSW and would just rather see a good game of rugby than any team in particular winning.
sheek
Roar Guru
Bring back amateurism. Make 'em work a week job like the rest of us. :-) :-) :-)
Larry_Parallelogram
Guest
I would just add one additional point to this discussion. For these contracts to work there needs to be concessions on both sides. What I mean by this is that the ARU needs to allow the player to miss certain S15 games or pre-season to accommodate the Japan season. Additionally, the Japan club needs to allow the player to miss their pre-season or even possibly miss additional games at the end of their season (finals, promotion relegation etc...). The Japanese clubs willingness to do this depends on the status/desirability/marketability of the payer. In Japan, clubs focus on certain positions (more emphasis on 1st five/centers/locks than on front rowers/halfbacks where they have capable local talent). Therefore part of the reason why this Foley deal got done MAY have been the willingness of the Japanese club to agree to certain conditions due to their desire to secure the player. In that respect, the fact that Foley is a 1st Five and a current Wallaby certainly increases the chances of such a deal getting agreed (due to his status as an international test player and his position). Therefore I would just caution people that there may be other factors involved other than simply our opinions as to how deserving a player is, that affect which players can successfully negotiate these deals.
Combesy
Roar Guru
You're being disingenuous ohm, you're well aware I was referring to geni/cooper being reds players
Combesy
Roar Guru
Yep exactly train. My point about him being the prized egg, was more that the ARU will want him to stay in australia as he is a fairly marketable player and has big potential as a leader.
Combesy
Roar Guru
Sorry kaks, but what is your point? My point isn't that they were world beaters. I was just stating the list of players that could/have stepped up to play 10 if/when there is a need. Seems you're just looking for an argument mate, because how many games did we win last year under foley?
Shane D
Roar Rookie
Or that you disagree with their priorities.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I understand your point Brett. But my point is, we lost a number of games we should have won (when looking at games where we had more than 50% of possession and territory - in fact there was 4 of them. We lost 7, drew 1 and only won another 6 in total) with Foley orchestrating the attack. What worse could another option do? Foley was poor against France for our 3 wins so he wasn't integral there, didn't play in 1 draw and lead us to 3 more wins across the last 9 tests. Do you think we seriously would have fared much worse with Toomua, Leali'ifano, Harris, Debreczeni, Holmes or Hegarty at the helm? At what point has Foley consistently shown to be an influential player that we really who is integral to success?