David Leggat: Are we hearing the last roar of the Lions?

Now that it's all but over we come to the big question: should the Lions continue, or is it time to say thanks for the memories and have a happy retirement.

The first thought is to call time. There's no room in the new professional age for an event which has lived most of its life in an amateur era and feels slightly square-peg-round-hole-ish.

The hard-nosed would add that as the Lions have been so poor on the field, is it worth persevering with an old tradition?

But to best assess if it has a future, you need to take your mind back about eight weeks.

Remember the sense of anticipation around the country. Even taking a pound of salt for the gross over-hyping of the tour by those with a vested interest, there was still a fascination about the Lions.

Would they be any good? Who will be the players to take the eye? What chance winning a test or, ahem, even the series?

It turned out the Lions party is what we always suspected: too big, poorly selected, inadequately prepared and on the field there have been few memories to savour.

But is that enough to drop the Lions in a coffin and dig a deep hole? In economic terms, there's no question the tour and the supporters have provided a financial boost for the country.

What the Lions have done is provide a fresh alternative to the standard fare we are served up. Okay, they may not have been much chop but at least they were different.

For the last 10 years, the staple diet has been Australia and South Africa. Usually tough and tight, but equally it has become a yawn. Same old, same old.

Try this simple test, and no ducking into the old almanacs: Name the All Black team who played Australia in Sydney in 2002? Here's a clue: only three of them are starting against the Lions tonight.

Or, name the All Black team who beat South Africa at Dunedin a year later. Again, a different three are all that remain.

The point, apart from the high turnover rate, is these tests merge in the mind. They are forgotten, and with the rare exception, have all the reflective appeal of day-old toast.

So we needed something new to stimulate the interest and in the months leading up to them running out at Rotorua to face Bay of Plenty on June 4, the Lions provided it.

Ask any old Lion, including Sir Clive Woodward and Ian McGeechan, and they'll tell you how much the Lions tours meant and why the tradition should continue. But there's a flipside. The Lions cannot continue without the support of those who provide the players.

The clubs hold sway in Europe, men with fat wallets and narrow visions. They want their pound of flesh. They'd think sentiment is the stuff sitting at the bottom of the coffee pot.

McGeechan, whose fifth Lions tour as player and coach ends tonight, reckoned the Lions were a couple of games short before the first test.

Then again, had they brought, say, eight fewer players they would not have needed four games to give everyone a crack. And therefore, they could have had a game to run the first test team as a unit.

Still, the chances of the Lions ever again succeeding Down Under depend on getting more time to prepare. The available window is too small. So you need goodwill from the clubs, and that will certainly come at a price.

The trick will be persuading the clubs that some good can come out of losing their players for a longer period of time. The person who manages that piece of verbal gymnastics will deserve a gong.

The Lions are not due back here until 2017. It's probable the rugby landscape will have changed as much by then as it has since they were last here in 1993.

Watch closely as they head for the tunnel tonight. You might not see them again.