Once again, its not 1.6 million, its 800k a year. That sounds far more reasonable, so the press don't run with that headline.
I struggle to understand how the two are mutually exclusive, and in fact there's a good argument they might be tied together. If we poured all the limited funds we have into developing junior pathways now, we wouldn't bear the fruits of it till after the Lions and the World Cup. And if we don't perform at those, having great development pathways won't matter because no kids will want to play the game.
The reality of the complete mess we are in is we need to do both. And the strategy is to maximise performance over the next four years to extract as much coin from the World Cup and Lions Series as we possibly can. Angus is an excellent player. He played for NSW when he was 22. I understand it is hard to find a positive spin on anything Aus Rugby related atm. But there are plenty of reasons to suggest this is good news.