'It's a hard one': Rebels face sabbatical threat for top players
Melbourne coach Dave Wessels is hopeful his two most senior Test players will not take up sabbaticals next season after Waratahs stalwart Michael Hooper announced he would play in Japan in 2021.
Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty and five-eighth Matt Toomua are the only other players eligible to take advantage of new rules allowing them to do short-term stints in Japan or Europe in coming seasons.
Matt Toomua is also allowed to take up a short term deal overseas. Credit:Getty Images
The deal was struck by the players' union as part of difficult pay negotiations during the COVID-19 shutdown and financial fallout.
Hooper, Australia's highest-paid player, is spending next season with Top League team Toyota Verblitz but Wessels said he believed Toomua and Haylett-Petty - both of whom are signed until the end of 2021 - would stick around next season.
"I've had chats with both of them about that. Both of them are pretty big parts of our team and both of them are pretty committed to staying at this stage," he said.
"But I think dependent on where things end up with the pay deal going forward they may have to make other decisions, but for now I think both of those guys are pretty committed to being here, which is great."
The Rebels are already fighting a significant exodus of mid-tier players from their roster, including Andrew Kellaway (Japan), Jermaine Ainsley (NZ), Luke Jones (France), Harry Potter (UK) and Matt Philip (France). Angus Cottrell and Bill Meakes have fielded offers from Major League Rugby sides in the United States but are still in talks to stay in Melbourne.
Young props Pone Fa'aumausili and Cameron Orr have both re-signed for the next two seasons but the club would also want to retain as many of their key senior players as possible.
Wessels stopped short of giving the sabbatical model his tick of approval but said the Rebels would respect any decision Toomua and Haylett-Petty made.
"It's a hard one for me because I want those players to be part of our group. Dane's our regular captain and when he's not playing Matt's the captain, so I want to keep both of those guys," he said.
"The way it works is both of them can't go together, so if one did decide to go then they'd have to alternate years.
"But as I say they're both pretty honest guys and they're both pretty committed to the team, so we've had multiple conversations with them and they've been pretty transparent with how they're thinking about things, and I think their first intention is that they want to stay here and we're hopeful that it plays out that way.
"But if they did decide to make a change for a few months then we'd understand that."
Haylett-Petty faces another week on the sidelines through injury, with Reece Hodge lining up at fullback again in Melbourne's must-win blockbuster against NSW at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.
Fa'aumausili drops to the bench to make way for Jermaine Ainsley, while former Waratah Michael Wells starts in the back row in place of 2020 debutant Josh Kemeny.