Aussie Player Exodus

[PhilClinton]

The bleeding of second string talent is a big reason why we are so bad (if not THE reason).

There is no solution to this though in our current rugby economy. If we don't pay Fraser (who is clearly the best openside in the Australia) he will leave. And then we likely end up overpaying Tizzano to stay.

RA have made the right decision based on what we can afford and if Tizzano leaves, that is life.

If we look back at similar decisions recently, I don't think Liam Gill being unavailable for selection because he was in Japan is the reason why we haven't won a RWC for two decades, the guys who we paid ahead of him (Hooper and Pocock) have regularly been our best players. And I don't think Carlo Tizzano playing in Japan is going to be the reason we don't win another.

 

[Derpus]

There is no solution to this though in our current rugby economy. If we don't pay Fraser (who is clearly the best openside in the Australia) he will leave. And then we likely end up overpaying Tizzano to stay.

RA have made the right decision based on what we can afford and if Tizzano leaves, that is life.

If we look back at similar decisions recently, I don't think Liam Gill being unavailable for selection because he was in Japan is the reason why we haven't won a RWC for two decades, the guys who we paid ahead of him (Hooper and Pocock) have regularly been our best players. And I don't think Carlo Tizzano playing in Japan is going to be the reason we don't win another.

Individually no... but together across all positions?

 

[PhilClinton]

I would say across most positions, we end up paying those 2nd, 3rd and 4th string guys quite well because particularly in the backs because they're interchangeable positionally.

Looking at the backs who've gone overseas recently, it was more whom I would consider our best players in each position at that time (Kerevi and Tom Banks come to mind) and they simply got offered massive cash that we couldn't match even for the top guys.

I think over recent history our openside flanker has pretty much been the best player in the team, with a unique skillset and has been paid accordingly. It then becomes hard to justify paying the second string openside a huge bucket of cash when they're likely not to play much.