T
Train Without a Station
Guest
NOBODY has said that all players follow that path. TWAS you are kidding yourself about me putting players out to pasture too early.
Well I was being deliberately facetious with my comment of Tupou.
But back to the actual point of discussion we are having. The players we lose mid-career are generally the ones that are not making it. Players in their "prime" as wallabies (using the term loosely in some instances) have really been anomalies, not the norm. Generally they have had specific financial motivation too.
What players in their mid-20s have we lost that may be playing? Timani, Douglas, Cummins and Ma'afu. 3 out of them have very specific circumstances that we know of.
We've lost a few who weer either past, or wouldn't get too much change from 30. Giteau, Smith, Mowen, Mitchell, Mumm, Chisholm, Samo, etc. These players will always be lost at the back end of their careers when they sense they may no longer be first choice wallabies, and therefore on a reduced value contract.
And then we've lost a few who have never cracked it before they left in Kimlin, Pyle, Longbottom.
It's not like the floodgates are rushing open on players who would be in the 30, that have been there and therefore can be confident they will remain there. It's a trickle of those players. That's because the teams aren't throwing out million dollar a year contracts to everybody. They are offering that to the very best, but for the rest it's better than Australia, but not stupidly better.