You wonder what Noah Lolesio must make of all this.
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The 21-year-old was left behind for a Super Rugby pre-season in Canberra while the rest of the Wallabies squad boarded a flight for a Spring Tour.
It was a chance to develop, a chance to "put on a little bit of muscle mass and deal with the physical nature of having to defend at 10". Wallabies coach Dave Rennie wanted him to work on his acceleration off the mark and add some distance to his kicking game with a long-term vision for the 2023 World Cup.
It would be okay, the Wallabies were in Quade Cooper's hands. Until they weren't. Now it's James O'Connor. Soon Kurtley Beale. And Lolesio is about to fly across the world to answer an SOS.
Cooper's decision to turn his back on the Wallabies' next three Tests to stay in Japan sees the Kintetsu playmaker follow Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon in brushing the national side, despite indications the latter pair had received the blessing of their League One club Suntory.
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The Spring Tour debacle to date has been frustrating and avoidable in equal measure.
Cooper, Kerevi and McMahon left it until the 11th hour to withdraw from Tests against Scotland, England and Wales. Was it ever their intention to tour? Had there been concerns rich Japanese contracts would be torn up had they returned home injured?
A relaxation of the Giteau Law was trumpeted as a success for Australian rugby, and it could still be. But just how far Rennie pushes the boundaries may now change.
A game plan built around Kerevi and masterminded by Cooper meant they were crucial to Australia's recent reversal in fortunes. Kerevi cited fatigue after a long campaign with his club in Japan ran into commitments with the Australian sevens team at the Olympic Games and then the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship, which he ended with an ankle injury.
McMahon wanted to stay with his family. Wallabies teammates and players across a raft of codes have been locked out of their home states - and in some cases, their home countries - for long stretches over the past two years in the midst of the pandemic. That does not cheapen McMahon's thought process.
Cooper, like the preceding pair, has a pre-season program beginning in three weeks. To say the 33-year-old is mindful of how his body holds up with an eye on the next World Cup is staggering. If there are concerns over his longevity at 33, why pick him at 35?
The Wallabies are entitled to pick these players under World Rugby's Regulation 9, but Rennie had been mindful of building relationships with the clubs who employ them. The easy thing to do would be to strong-arm clubs, but Rugby Australia is not in a position to run a dictatorship.
There is blame to be shared. The players, for failing to make intentions clear and leaving the Wallabies in the lurch. Rugby Australia and the Japanese clubs, for failing to strike a balance of power in an international window.
Sponsors line the sternum and back of the famed gold jersey but the bombshell dropped in camp this week makes you wonder: how much is the Wallabies jersey really worth? Enough for Lolesio to jump straight on a flight to the UK.
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