Island Rugby - Dan Leo Documentary
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@Catogrande said in Island Rugby - Dan Leo Documentary:
@junior The thing I find potentially concerning about the proposal to allow switching from Tier 1 to Tier 2 is of unintended consequences, which I see as twofold. Firstly if any young guy knows he can always revert to say Samoa with little consequence it could see a flood of younger guys opting for a chance at a Tier 1. Secondly if much older guys, however good come back what does that do for the motivation of the younger guys who don’t then get a look in?
Maybe I’m overthinking this but I just can’t see it not having ramifications.
I would not restrict the switch back rule to Tier 1 / 2 - it would apply to all countries. In practice though it’s likely to benefit the Tier 2 countries more. I understand your concern about younger guys, but I think the issue with the PI teams and why many are advocating for the switch back rule is because they lack decent players with enough experience (I’m not sure if this is in fact the case but it appears to be the argument).
Also, with what I’m advocating, there’s effectively an 8 year stand down period where a guy is not playing internationally. That to me is enough of a disincentive for silly switch around a and should give at least some guys pause to make an early commitment to their home nation. When you factor in also the time spent playing for their adopted nation, in most cases you’re looking at an overall period of 10+ years which means that any older guy coming back to say Samoa and taking the spot of young up and comer will have to be pretty bloody good because by that stage he’ll be pretty bloody old.