Agent calls for player sabbaticals

[KenyaQuin]

Agent calls for player sabbaticals
Wayne Smith | April 29, 2008 Agent calls for player sabbaticals | The Australian

LEADING player agent Anthony Piccone last night called on the Australian Rugby Union to consider copying a reported New Zealand initiative to grant All Black five-eighth Dan Carter a year's sabbatical to play overseas.

If Carter - who has been offered more than $1 million a season to play with French clubs Toulouse or Toulon - accepts the NZRU's offer, he will be the first All Black allowed to take on an offshore contract without losing his eligibility to be selected for Test matches.

Right from the start of the professional era in 1995, Australia has had a policy of not selecting overseas-based players, but such is the disparity between what players are able to earn in France, Britain and Japan from what is available to them in Australia, that pressure is building to find a compromise solution.

Reportedly, he will be permitted to play overseas for a year and return for the All Blacks' domestic Tests next June, without needing to fill the standard selection criteria of having played in the preceding domestic competition.

While the NZ and Australian policies differ in the detail, the common intent has always been to make it clear-cut that players heading offshore do so in the knowledge that they have just called an end to their Test careers.

It's a black and white situation, but Piccone's argument is that there needs to be some shades of grey.

"Australia should look at this (Carter) situation and at other solutions," Piccone said. "Obviously allowing players to take a sabbatical for a designated period allows them to go overseas for lifestyle reasons yet still not be lost long-term to Australian rugby."

That is precisely the situation that NSW Wallaby Rocky Elsom wants for himself, but the ARU appears to have dug in on the issue of early release and contract negotiations between the two parties have dragged on to the point where any overseas clubs chasing Elsom are starting to think they should look elsewhere.

"The hardline approach from the ARU could have the opposite effect to what's intended and actually push players offshore," Piccone warned. "Players aren't going to want to come back and resume their Test careers in Australia after a sabbatical in Europe or Japan if the ARU plays hardball with them."

The Carter compromise might just be the circuit-breaker that is needed in the week when the Rugby Union Players Association boss Tony Dempsey will be meeting with the ARU in a bid to resolve the impasse that has developed over the early release policy.

The long-standing convention has been that any professional player of five-years standing in the game, who has notched 30 Tests or 60 Super rugby matches, automatically will be granted an early release in the final year of his contract if he wishes to explore overseas offers.

"We'd love to see all players stay in Australia and play here because it's good for the game in this country," said Dempsey. "But there has got to be a sense of fair play and freedom to choose your career path."

The tricky issue for the ARU and the four professional franchises is what to do with players who do not meet the "30 Tests or 60 Super rugby matches" criteria who are only on the fringe of being required for Super 14 squads.

By forcing them to remain in Australia until their contracts expire on December 31 means they will have little chance of securing a professional contract in Europe.

It is understood the impasse has caused a number of players to baulk on re-signing with their Australian franchises because their current contracts might eventually leave them in no-man's land - not wanted in Australia but not permitted to leave until it is too late for them to pick up a contract in Europe or Japan.

Certainly Reds prop Rodney Blake is one player who desperately needs some clarity on the situation.

While Queensland has made it apparent they consider him primarily a bench player, the way is open for him to play in France, where he is certain to improve his scrummaging by virtue of the fact that he will play at least twice as many matches per season.

Having then rectified the one glaring deficiency in his game, he could then return to Australia a better player and then challenge again for a place in the Wallabies.

[KenyaQuin]

NZRU moves to keep Carter
Monday 28th April 2008 NZRU moves to keep Carter - Rugby News, Results, Fixtures and Features from Planet-Rugby.com

The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) are believed to have tailored a deal for Dan Carter that will allow him to ply his trade overseas next season, before returning back to New Zealand.

The deal basically offers Carter a sabbatical - the first player to be granted such a luxury - whilst still being tied to the NZRU.

Carter, arguably the world's best fly-half, has been offered several huge offers from European clubs, with the offers from French clubs being the most lucrative. However the NZRU are desperate to keep hold of their prize asset, hence their new offer for Carter.

NZRU professional services manager Neil Sorenson said the union met Carter's representatives over the weekend.

Sorenson wouldn't reveal details of the discussions but various New Zealand media outlets reported the 26-year-old had been offered the chance to travel overseas and return to New Zealand in time for the home Tests in June 2009.

As it stands the NZRU rules state that only players plying their trade in New Zealand are eligible for All Black selection. However the board have the right, given the circumstances, to make an exception to the rule meaning Carter would not be required to represent the Crusaders in next season's Super 14.

The new option of a sabbatical, would only be offered to New Zealand's premier players, so as not to make it a commonplace stipulation in contracts.

"We would say the top half dozen is the number we'd be offering this to," Sorenson said.

"We're not going to treat a top-line world class All Black as we would treat an Air New Zealand Cup player."

Carter has plenty of time to make his decision, with his current NZRU contract expiring at the end of the year.

NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew said Carter would be given time and space to make a decision.

"We would like to settle it as soon as Dan is ready to make a decision but he must really drive that timetable because we don't want to put any more pressure on him that he's already got," Tew told The Press newspaper.

"We will let his decision-making take its course. It's not just about him, it's about his partner Honor Dillon as well."

Neither Carter nor his agents from the Auckland-based company Global Sports Management are commenting.

"It is something we think might work for Dan," Tew said.

"It's not unusual in other industries, so we are going to put that on the table for some guys we think it might work for. Maybe we have to tailor our offers for the individual."