If not Marika Koroibete, then who?

Marika Koroibete has just completed a season in rugby league where he was one of the most skilful, dynamic, tackle-busting-with-pace-to-burn wingers in the NRL competition.

Can anyone name an Australian winger in Super Rugby that had a season in 2016 that come anywhere near the impact Koroibete had in the NRL?

Koroibete’s selection in Michael Cheika’s Wallaby Spring Tour squad without having played Super Rugby, has the traditionalists and usual suspects crying foul that a league convert has been gifted a Wallabies tour and possible Test debut.

Perhaps those outraged at the Koroibete selection are reluctant to face the reality that none of our five Super Rugby teams this season had a winger banging down the door for Wallaby selection.

The arguments put forward to criticise the Koroibete selection are typical and it’s an interesting exercise to debunk them and offer an alternative point of view. The first argument is that Koroibete’s selection sends a negative view to every young player on a traditional rugby pathway that Wallaby tours and subsequent Test debuts are simply handed out.

It could be argued this is the glass half empty point of view. The glass half full point of view might have young traditional rugby playing wingers believing that there is a real shortage of talented quality wingers in Australian rugby.

If they knuckle down and apply themselves the opportunities for higher honours will come. Perhaps if might even make them realise that it pays to attend that extra training session on a cold night with the second grade team at their local rugby club.

It was a former Wallaby that recently highlighted that cold nights with second grade develop the player deserving of Wallaby selection. The traditionalists also must have their heads in the sand when it comes to the effectiveness of the traditional rugby pathway.

The Australian rugby community at all levels has spent the best part of a year debating the traditional rugby pathway and offering alternative ideas and solutions.

Another argument put forward lies across the Tasman and goes along the lines of would New Zealand do this? Any rugby tragic like yours truly who regularly tunes into the excellent Mitre 10 Cup coverage provided by Fox Sports will quickly realise that the depth of wingers in the traditional New Zealand rugby pathway is frightening for any Australian rugby supporter.

It could be argued New Zealand rugby selectors probably trip over quality rugby wingers every time they leave their house. Australian rugby selectors might as well send out a search party for Burke and Wills, it would be just as effective.

Quite simply New Zealand rugby unlike Australian rugby do not have NRL sides offering their young athletic talent lucrative scholarships. Young Cowboys sensation Kalyn Ponga is an example of this, Ponga actually attended a traditional Australian rugby school while benefiting from an NRL scholarship.

Watching Julian Savea terrorise Australia on the wing in the recent Bledisoe Cup game at Eden Park in Auckland, I realised how badly Australia was lacking in world-class wingers.

Is it any coincidence that Australia’s two World Cup victories in 1991 and 1999 coincided with the careers of two quality wingers who would have demanded starts in a world 15: David Campese and Ben Tune?

Apart from a brief period at the start of Israel Folou’s Wallaby career where he was dynamic on the wing, I can’t recall another Australian winger since Ben Tune’s retirement worthy of World 15 discussions?

Digby Ioane showed glimpses of potential in a brief Wallaby career, but was lost to the lucrative contracts on offer in European rugby.

Something else New Zealand rugby doesn’t appear to have to worry about. New Zealand do not appear to lose players in their prime to European rugby, they use European rugby to freshen up veterans occasionally.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the traditionalists crying foul over the Koroibete selection is the fact they do not appear to realise the current standing rugby has in the Australian sporting landscape.

As one of three major codes competing in the winter schedule, it is coming a very distant third to the AFL and NRL. Rugby is not the code of choice among young talented athletes and every year young talented outside backs on traditional rugby pathways are lost to the lucrative NRL scholarships.

Quite frankly Koroibete is one of the most talented wingers in either code in the country, by poaching him rugby took a calculated gamble that is well worth the risk. There is no guarantee Koroibete will be successful in the 15-man game, but there is certainly no evidence to suggest that he will not be a sensation either.

In fact, given his form in the NRL one might be willing to bet there is more evidence he will be successful in rugby then a failure.

At the very least by attracting Koroibete, rugby struck a blow in terms of generating a headline and receiving positive publicity. Something it has regularly failed to do for most of the year since the 2015 World Cup.

As the Australian rugby community tears itself apart arguing and debating the merits of traditional rugby pathways, it cannot be a bad thing for Cheika to invest in the potential of a talented athlete like Koroibete.