Silly me. I am old fashioned enough to wonder what the point is in terms of developing Australian talent. If all it takes to win games is to have the deepest pockets, then we will never win, will we?
I understand your point. Like a lot of these issues I just don’t think it’s black and white.
I don’t want a situation to arise like we had a couple of years ago where we have 2-3 starting fly half’s in the comp to be all imports, so at test level we have a dearth of choices. Nor do I want lots of spots taken up by imports while Australian talent is overlooked and I’m in no hurry for the signing of another Henrik Roodt.
But on the flip side it’s pretty clear that we don’t have enough players at the moment to fill out 5 quality super rugby teams. Introducing a few key foreign players to help make squads helps make teams more competitive and, I would have thought, helps develop talent. Even if you look at a guy like Ralston, who shows a lot of promise, there is at least a trade of between him missing out on game time with him having to lift his standard to win his spot on merit. I actually think there might be advantages to having a concentration in the imports to 1-2 teams to avoid the chance of having 2-3 foreign players in the one position. Obviously the best outcome for the Wallabies in the longer term is that the Western Force develops a production line of local talent who are all available for Wallaby squad selection - but they clearly need to be allowed some latitude to get there, especially given the set back of their exclusion from Super Rugby. (And yes - I realise that the WF already are producing local talent, but the aspiration is obviously that the numbers they are producing increase).
Having said that, if the Waratahs aren’t able to sign up a quality Australian lock or prop, I would be very happy to see them secure a quality foreign import in those spots. These are spots where we have plenty of talent coming through at the other franchises, so I don’t think it would hold back the strength of the Wallabies. Conversely I think it would actually strengthen our player development because guys like Harris, Harrison, Perese, Ramm, Bell, Johnson-Holmes and Hanigan would get the opportunity to play in a more competitive team each week and would, presumably get to train and prepare next to a few extra seasoned pros (assuming you get the right type of pros). RA could do far worse than negotiate a bit of latitude for the Tahs - although if they go the other way and demand the Tahs recruit/develop from Shute Shield than I can appreciate the longer term benefit of that too.
