Wallabies players set to walk, Super Rugby faces uncertainty as national club competition backed

Some contracted Wallabies look set to try their hand overseas, fed up with the direction of the sport. But is a national club competition the answer to fix Australian rugby?

LYON, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 24: Nick Frost of Australia looks dejected at full-time following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Wales and Australia at Parc Olympique on September 24, 2023 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

At least four Wallabies players are actively looking to join overseas clubs despite being contracted to Rugby Australia beyond the World Cup, such is the disillusionment within the game.

The revelation comes as insiders fear the code is headed for insolvency, with uncertainty around whether RA can acquire the loans to keep going, while there are calls for a complete overhaul to scrap Super Rugby and establish a national club competition instead.

As RA chairman Hamish McLennan doubled down on his target of acquiring more NRL players to fix the Wallabies woes, and a two-year $1.6 million offer was tabled to Roosters player Angus Crichton, the news only served to anger Australia’s downtrodden playing group.

Four RA contracted Wallabies – on deals up to the end of 2025 – are hitting the overseas market and hope to get early releases.

Could some big names in Australian Rugby walk out? (Photo by Jeff PACHOUD / AFP)

They have lost faith in the future direction of Australian rugby, and want out.

Some also believe the nature of the Wallabies’ campaign in France has devalued them on the player market.

If they get compelling offers, they’ll leverage the offers RA has made to Crichton and fellow Roosters player Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – who is supposed to be paid a total of $5.35 million over three years from 2025 – to free up that money and allow them to leave early.

Sources said that early discussions suggest Crichton and Suaalii could be the Wallabies centre pairing for the 2025 British & Irish Lions series, with boom rookie Max Jorgensen marked for the fullback role.

The Wallabies have sunk to a historic low of 10th in the world rankings and are set to be bundled out of the World Cup’s pool stages for the first time after losses to Fiji and Wales.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, contracted until the end of 2027, has denied taking a job interview with Japan, but there is distrust now between the playing group, Jones and RA’s top brass.

RA has told the players there will be a thorough review once the World Cup has finished, and they’re keen for honest and open feedback.

Rob Valetini consoles Nick Frost after the Wallabies crashed out of the World Cup. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

However, many of these same players were part of a review at the end of last year when they were asked if Dave Rennie should be retained as national coach. They overwhelmingly said yes, but RA decided to sack him and hire Jones, so the players don’t feel their input will influence outcomes.

At the same time, the game’s stakeholders hold genuine fears that rugby will go broke.

Having failed to secure private equity funding, RA will be reliant on securing a loan of up to $90 million to stay afloat. It’s not guaranteed they’ll be given the money.

With the broadcast rights value set to drop after the deal with Nine and Stan Sport expires in 2025, alarm bells are ringing about the future of the game.

Earlier this year, Australia and New Zealand announced that Super Rugby would be guaranteed until 2030, with a new board to oversee the competition and its women’s version, Super W.

But if there is not enough broadcast interest to pay for it, officials may have no choice but to scrap the competition after 2025.

One broadcast expert said a dramatic turnaround of the Wallabies’ performances still won’t be enough to secure the financial future of Australian rugby.

“All this talk about how a winning Wallabies will automatically fix the problems is a furphy,” the expert said.

“High performance does not magically fix a business. The NSW Waratahs won Super Rugby in 2014, the Wallabies made the World Cup final in 2015, and Australian rugby has still gone backwards at a rate of knots.

“The All Blacks won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, they’ve dominated Super Rugby for the past decade, they’ve secured private investment funding, and they’re still going broke.”

Rugby Australia’s decision to sack Dave Rennie and hire Eddie Jones has left players disillusioned. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

NZR posted a loss of $47 million last year.

In 2013, a research paper was presented to RA categorically stating that Super Rugby expansion was destined to fail. Then chief executive, Bill Pulver, agreed with the paper.

However, RA and SANZAAR still decided to expand Super Rugby to 18 teams in 2016. By 2018 the competition was reduced back to 15 teams, and by 2020 South Africa, Argentina and Japan had all withdrawn from the tournament, leaving Australia and New Zealand.

Super Rugby’s viewership has been dwindling over several years and three of Australia’s clubs, the Waratahs, Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels, are in financial peril.

A radical proposal to scrap Super Rugby and replace it with a 20-team club competition has been presented to RA previously, and still has the backing of investors.

It would involve Sydney’s Shute Shield and Brisbane’s Hospital Cup clubs playing in a two, 10-team divisions with a promotion-relegation system.

Instead of three or four games a weekend involving local teams, there would be 10, increasing broadcast content.

Up to 35 of Australia’s best players would be centrally contracted, and the rest paid by the clubs.

It would see a large departure of mid-level players from Australia but that trend has already begun.

Super Rugby’s future could be under threat. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Sydney and Brisbane clubs have loyal followings, and many supporters have become so frustrated with the mismanagement of the code they’ve stopped supporting Super Rugby clubs, creating a serious disconnect.

That is now stretching to the Wallabies following their disastrous 2023 campaign.

While Australia will host the 2025 Lions series, and 2027 World Cup and the 2029 Women’s World Cup, much of the revenue from these tournaments will need to service RA’s acquired debt.

Should more funds be ploughed into loss-making Super Rugby teams, rugby faces a stark future headed for amateur status.

The RA board and their member states cannot agree on a path forward, nor a financial model that can guarantee survival of the game and their own jobs.

Rugby in Australia has never been in a more precarious position.

Originally published as Wallabies players set to walk, Super Rugby faces uncertainty as national club competition backed