Timing Is Everything

New Zealand’s Best Players Are In Constant Demand Around The World, But Knowing Whether To Stay At Home Or Head Offshore Is An Increasingly Difficult Judgement Call.

- Gregor Paul

Timing, as comedians can testify, is everything. Rugby players have an increasing appreciation of that being the case, too.

Knowing how to manage a career – which path to follow and when – is not easy. It is a fraught business and one that has led a handful of players to live with eternal regret and others to be forever thankful that they held their ground and followed their heart.

For New Zealand players, or at least for most of them, there is constant demand for their services. There is always a market where their services are in demand.

And usually, for many players, they are perennially being offered more money to leave New Zealand than they are to stay. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like living with that constant choice – that constant weighing up of the pros and cons and trying to determine what the best thing to do is.

What makes it particularly hard is that the comparisons are invariably never like for like. Those players with the option to head offshore – typically Europe or Japan – can see that the primary reason for the shift would be financial.

Mid-tier players, those who have a few Super Rugby seasons under their belt, can expect to at least double, possibly triple and sometimes even quadruple their remuneration by heading overseas.

Normally, that’s the reason most players start to seriously consider leaving New Zealand.

Everyone has a price and a few seasons in Europe can often set up individuals with the spare capital they need to start a business or invest in something sustainable that is there for them when they give up playing.

Fitting into that equation is the less definable but still attractive prospect of living in a foreign country and having an experience not open to everyone else.