On an entirely different note...
I took the opportunity to dick around and assemble an Australian expats XV, to look at the depth of potential lost overseas. The leagues I've covered are the English Premiership, French Top 14 and D2, all the Celtic League teams (Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy), and the Japanese Top League.
Behold your mighties and despair:
1 Dan Palmer - Grenoble
2 Huia Edmonds - Gloucester
3 Salesi Ma’afu - Northampton
4 Sitaleki Timani - Montpellier
5 Mark Chisholm - Bayonne
6 Peter Kimlin - Grenoble
7 George Smith - Suntory Sungoliath
8 David Lyons - Stade Francais
9 Josh Valentine - Narbonne
10 Berrick Barnes - Panasonic Wild Knights
11 Digby Ioane - Stade Francais
12 Matt Giteau - Toulon
13 Tyrone Smith - Narbonne
14 Drew Mitchell - Toulon
15 James O’Connor - London Irish
16 James Hilterbrand - Edinburgh
17 John Ulugia - Bourg-en-Bresse
18 Anthony Hegarty - Grenoble
19 Dean Mumm - Exeter
20 Leroy Houston - Bath
21 Richard Kingi - Stade Francais
22 Brock James - Clermont Auvergne
23 Alfi Mafi - Brive
Honourable mentions go to Ben Hand (Grenoble), Dan Heenan (Panasonic Wild Knights), Mitch Chapman (NTT Docomo), Julian Salvi (Leicester), Jono Jenkins (Narbonne), Josh Holmes (Bourgoin), Matt Henjak (Dax), Afusipa Taumoepeau (Pau), Junior Pelesasa (Agen), Chris Siale (Tarbes), Craig Wing (Kintetsu?), Brackin Karauria-Henry (NTT Shining Arcs) Ben Jacobs (London Wasps), Peter Hewat (Suntory Sungoliath).
There are a fair bunch of players who didn't make the cut above - mostly ex-mungoes, journeymen, bright young things, or names which I'd never bloody heard before.
While you can draw any number of conclusions from the above, it's notable that almost all of the first XV named are ex-Wallabies. The long-time argument that Australia doesn't have the playing depth to support five Super Rugby teams does seem to fly in the face of the above. The real issue isn't depth (apart from perhaps our front-row stocks), but in our ability to retain talent.