KEY POINTS:
The sooner All Blacks no longer appear in the national championship the better.
The in-for-a-bit/out-for-a-bit/back-for-the-finals arrangement that has ensued during recent seasons is a mess.
It's certainly a contradiction that, while national championship games have been improved as spectacles by the presence of players such as Stephen Donald, Anthony Tuitavake and Piri Weepu, their presence has done little for the competition as a whole.
For Waikato fans, having Donald briefly return to right the sinking Mooloo ship before being recalled for national service must feel like being asked to give their presents back a couple of days after Christmas.
But the real problem with the haphazard way the country's best players come and go is a matter of fairness. Luck of the draw becomes a huge factor. Manawatu, for instance, had to tackle an Auckland side with a front row bolstered by John Afoa and Keven Mealamu when they challenged for the Ranfurly Shield.
Southland, when they have their crack at the Log tomorrow, won't face anywhere near the same challenge.
Next season's 12-team full round-robin format will alleviate some of the unfairness caused by a mismatched draw but it won't fix the problem entirely. Teams that draw the big unions in the test match windows will still have a significant advantage.
The biggest problem with the current system, however, is that it completely wrecks the playoffs. Graham Henry has already indicated that the vast majority of his squad won't return until round 10 but most, if not all, will feature in the competition's closing stages.
Ultimately, the vision for the national championship is that it becomes a tournament all of the competing sides have a realistic chance of winning. Results this season suggest a levelling off is starting to occur but that balance will be lost when the All Blacks return for the business end of the season.
That said, change for the better might not be too far away.
The NZRU's vision for the future is for a four-tiered competition structure - club, national championship, Super Rugby and international rugby.
Once Super Rugby is expanded to 20-plus weeks, players will compete in just two tiers in any given season.
That would see top All Blacks play only test and Super rugby, players not in the test team would play Super and provincial rugby and players without Super contracts would play provincial and club rugby.
The national championship is already a development competition for emerging players. It's certainly questionable what good being bumped from their team for returning All Blacks just when the acid is going on at playoff time does for those emerging players.
And to say that All Blacks won't appear for their provinces isn't quite accurate. They will, when they are still emerging talents on the way up, or maybe even when their best days are behind them.
Change is coming. There is no doubt about that. The sooner it comes the better, even if means waving goodbye to the superstars.
