Ruckedtobits wrote: ↑February 18th, 2021, 9:06 pm
Oldschool wrote: ↑February 18th, 2021, 10:23 am
backrower8 wrote: ↑February 17th, 2021, 9:23 pm
Pat Lam or Andy Friend are our way to a brave, successful new future.
We need a once in 145 years re-engineering of the Irish style to a Japanese-French hybrid and away from bish, bosh, ruck.
We need things to change that's for sure however we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Ireland has been relatively successful in the professional era and a lot more successful than in the amateur era.
So we need to identify the issues that need to be addressed while holding on to the good things.
For example it's fair to say that nearly everyone posting here thinks that the system of Central Contracts handcuffs the coaches hands and needs re-engineering.
It results in sub optimal squad selection and hinders succession planning.
Is there a lack of ambition underlining our approach?
Partially agree about Central Contracts. The problem is if you ditch them, can Provinces afford to create the necessary differential to hold onto key players without aliknating a large proportion of their Squad?
The answer in the past was No. They also found the same problem in the Premiership. It's not easy to solve and it's not like other sports. Rugby is vitually the only field sport (possibly also Cricket) in which the highest earning level is international not Club.
The central contract program should be a live program where it is continuously reviewed and improved to match a changing landscape.
Provincial fans need to understand that the provinces were created in their professional form based on an existing structure for one reason, and that was to create professional players for the Irish team.
The provinces are little more than academies for the national team, and it the national team have little care about how successful their franchises are as long as they provide them with players.
If the central contract program were scrapped, then no doubt the provinces would lose a large number of quality players.
Looking at Leinster as an example, for Leinster to retain the likes of Furlong, Healy, Ryan, Sexton etc. with their own budget, then they would have to increase their income to the tune of 3-4 million, which is not going to happen.
Thankfully, the current franchise structure has provided all 4 provinces with silverware, with 3 of the 4 being crowned as European champions, which was definitely unimaginable back in the 90s when I was following Shannon in the AIL.
Just because a post upsets you, that doesn’t mean that it is wrong. People have different views in all aspects of life, this is a key ingredient to an interesting conversation.
