Squad Building – Big ticket ballers

In this post-covid, financially stressed, shambolic global calendar period of rugby union trying to nail down the exact start of transfer silly season is becoming a difficult task.

You’ve got some well run/wealthy clubs doing their business up to a whole 12 months in advance, then there’s still some in the traditional October/November window, while the Welsh clubs generally spend months and months messing around before cramming a load of signings in about a week after pre-season was due to start.

With contract and signing news beginning to surface relating to Cardiff though I’ve put together a four-part squad building series assessing the state of the playing group going into the recruitment/retention period. Some questions are posed around particular player types or positions, with the considerations for Matt Sherratt, Darren Allinson and Richard Holland laid out as I see them.

To kick that off, and in order to fully understand how much budget space there is to contract and recruit in other areas of the squad, there are some big ticket players coming to the end of their current deals that the club needs to consider whether they are retained or released.

Thomas Young, Taulupe Faletau and Josh Adams are three of the most instantly recognisable names in the Blue & Blacks player list, with winger Adams one of the most lethal finishers over the last six years, number eight Faletau an iconic player who will go down as one of Cymru’s best ever, and flanker Young someone who’s form has never been rewarded with international honours as it arguably should have.

However, in these times of belt tightening and restrictive salary caps in Wales every penny counts, and particularly in the case of Faletau and Adams, carrying large wages across from the previous system of NS38 has been restrictive for Cardiff. There’s a reason there was little resistance to Liam Williams’ move to Japan, for example.

Looking at the case for not renewing them and there’s a lot to consider; all will be 30 or over at the start of next season, each has an injury record that is at least notable across the last two-to-three years, and if there’s a change in Cymru coaching ticket then each could well be involved with the national team whenever fit, restricting their game time and increasing their potential to get injured.

It’s a sizeable level of risk when offering six-figure contracts, with the simple fact being that if two of the three are injured then it’s a decent percentage of your total wage bill that are unavailable.

However, there’s plenty of reason to keep them around as well; they are each top quality players when fit, they bring a huge amount of leadership to the group, their experience is invaluable for the younger members of the squad, and they are commercial assets in terms of ticket sales among younger supporters wanting to see their favourite players and sponsors wanting to be associated with big names.

Now if any of the three decided that the time was right to explore something different, a new rugby culture and living abroad, as well as picking up a not insignificant pay package, then I’d back the club to let them go without much resistance.

However, each has young families and seem settled in South Wales, so if they’re all keen to stay then I’d also have no qualms with the Blue & Blacks re-signing all three – but crucially it would have to be for the right price.

Josh Adams can still command a good wage as a world class winger with the better injury record of the trio, while Thomas Young is our best openside and, with retirements and injuries elsewhere, that is a position where we don’t have the greatest amount of depth currently, which should see a solid offer on the table for the jackal king.

Taulupe Faletau though, at 34 and with 15 Cardiff appearances in two-and-a-half years, might have to be prepared to take a re-worked offer if staying at the Arms Park is his preference. As legendary as he is, with Alun Lawrence and Mackenzie Martin in the squad, and James Botham capable of covering, it’s not a signing that the club necessarily needs to go out of their way to make.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see the big number eight continuing to run out in the capital, but with budgets tight it can’t come at the expense of strengthening elsewhere, as this series will get on to.

There are no easy decisions when every penny is being pinched, but as I’ll look at next time, there are opportunities to improve the quality of the squad if the right calls are made.