Imagine All Black Ardie Savea running around in a Queensland Reds jersey.
Damian McKenzie playing for the Rebels.
All Black Ardie Savea.Credit: Getty
Wallaby Rob Valetini lining up for the Crusaders.
Maybe Tate McDermott playing alongside Beauden Barrett at the Blues?
These aren’t revelations about wild player movements on the horizon. But they potentially could be, as part of a plan to shake up Super Rugby.
Once the world’s premier provincial competition, Super Rugby is bordering on irreversible irrelevance. Something needs to be done quickly to jolt it back into the public consciousness.
Even rusted-on fans aren’t feeling it anymore. Forget about winning over new audiences, these long-suffering supporters are seemingly less likely to turn out in team colours.
Rugby isn’t dying, but Super Rugby appears to be – right in front of our eyes.
Crowd figures have been poor even in the “heartland” states of New South Wales and Queensland.
Austadiums.com lists the average Australian Super Rugby crowd this season at 11,684. The Reds have already had three home matches below that.
Apart from rights holder Nine Entertainment Co, owner of this masthead, media coverage has been sparse, with NRL and AFL dominating the landscape. Not even Eddie Jones can change that.
Fraser McReight in action for the Reds against the Western Force – in front of rows of empty seats at Suncorp Stadium.Credit: Getty
So, how can Super Rugby be saved from oblivion?
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says the obvious thing is to win.
“A winning Wallabies provides a halo of positivity for everything we do. Eddie Jones will fix that,” McLennan told this columnist.
“A winning Reds and Waratahs lifts the whole game. They have the talent, as do our other teams.
“Fixing our teams through investment in players and pathways and promotion of the game will help grow the profile of the competition.”
OK, but even if our teams win, how do we captivate an audience with an interesting product?
“A better job needs to be done to promote our players and showcase the characters,” McLennan says.
“There needs to be innovation with promotion; be creative on all levels.
“We’ve made good progress in terms of innovation to the laws of the game. Now we need to look at how to be innovative with the competition.”
And that’s where things get interesting.
“One idea is to introduce a player draft between Australian and New Zealand sides,” McLennan says.
“This could potentially see All Blacks stars like Damian McKenzie playing for an Australian side, and it would allow our Wallabies stars to play for teams across the Tasman without impacting their ability to be selected at an international level.”
Talk about innovation.
This could grow talent pools, see rugby “IP” shared, and generate interest on both sides of the Tasman for the good of the game.
But will the Aussie states and New Zealand Rugby go for it? Maybe the better question is whether they have a choice.
If Super Rugby is to thrive and again be a talking point around barbecues and water coolers, administrators, coaches, players and fans need to open their minds.
The edict to everyone in rugby must be to grow the game – at every opportunity.
For what it’s worth, Rugby Australia is vowing to invest to grow the Super Rugby competition.
“Rugby at a Super level has suffered from a massive lack of investment, [and it’s] the fault of Rugby Australia, not the state unions,” McLennan concedes.
The future is anything but bright. As one rusted-on rugby fan told me recently: “I don’t know what the answer is, but it feels like it’s getting worse, not better.”
Pretty dark, but maybe on this occasion, the night is darkest before the dawn.
