{"id":581290,"date":"2026-04-02T19:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581290\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:22:17","slug":"australia-pushes-for-reform-after-massimo-de-lutiis-saga-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581290\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia pushes for reform after Massimo De Lutiis saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The threat of Massimo De Lutiis being poached by Ulster and Ireland has been snuffed out, with the 22-year-old tighthead prop set to re-sign with Rugby Australia and Queensland.<\/p>\n

But while the De Lutiis saga<\/a> appears to have ended as swiftly as it began, an Australia-led push for reform to World Rugby\u2019s transfer system \u2013 which would have seen Ulster incur a fee of just $48,000 for a professional front rower on the cusp of Test rugby \u2013 is gathering steam.<\/p>\n

De Luttis, the 126-kilogram Reds strongman, chose to reject an offer from Ulster and the IRFU and stay in Brisbane. He gave serious consideration to the move last month, but a beefed-up offer from RA was enough to get a deal done \u2013 thus avoiding the embarrassment for RA of De Lutiis one day returning in an Irish jersey, for whom he qualifies via his maternal grandfather.<\/p>\n

The De Lutiis skirmish was shortlived but it has served to highlight the issue of World Rugby\u2019s transfer system, which many nations \u2013 including Australia \u2013 believe is dated and in need of a major overhaul.<\/p>\n

Unlike the robust transfer system in world soccer, rugby\u2019s equivalent is limited in size and scale; to the point many in the game don\u2019t even know it exists despite it being 16 years old.<\/p>\n

Compensation for player movement is covered under World Rugby regulation 4.7, which seeks to acknowledge the cost incurred in developing a contracted player between the age of 17-23. Unlike the soccer system, there are usually no club-to-club transfer fees. But the figure was set at \u00a35000 pounds ($9623) per year in 2010 and hasn\u2019t increased since. Under the six-year limit, it is capped at $57,778.<\/p>\n

\"In-demand:In-demand: Queensland prop Massimo De Lutiis.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about the economics of the game, it\u2019s a reasonably nominal fee,\u201d Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said this week. \u201cSo we\u2019re very keen to get the right balance between recognition for development, but also how do you ensure that there are barriers to deliberately poaching players from different countries, to deliberately overlook local talent, to then bring in offshore talent that\u2019s got no affiliation with the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waugh and RA chairman Daniel Herbert have been strong advocates of change<\/a> in the transfer system, and the chief executive raised the issue again at World Rugby meetings in London last month. A working group was established to look at options ahead of the next meetings in the middle of the year.<\/p>\n

Former Rebels coach Dave Wessels, who is now general manager of high performance in South African rugby, took to X this week to comment on the De Lutiis case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is crazy stuff. Rugby needs a better model to compensate countries that are exporters of talent – similar to what FIFA has. At the moment the farmer who has spent years fattening the cow doesn\u2019t get a cent when the cow goes to the abattoir \u2026 doesn\u2019t work for farming. Can\u2019t work for rugby,\u201d Wessels wrote.<\/p>\n

\"HeinzHeinz Lemoto playing in his first Under-21 game for Toulouse.Instagram\/Toulouse Rugby<\/p>\n

A more substantial transfer fee would disrupt tactical recruiting by nations like Ireland and Scotland, who target eligible players from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. And it would help Pacific Island nations, who have been lost talent for decades to multiple nations, including Australia. It\u2019d either help them keep players, or earn much-needed revenue.<\/p>\n

RA have also expressed their dissatisfaction at World Rugby level about clubs, in France and in particular, signing teenage players while still at school. There are concerns about the welfare of youngsters who are moving across the world to join club academies, often with no family nearby. There are currently 30 Australian player<\/a>s aged between 17 and 23 in French academies, including star rookie Heinz Lemoto.<\/p>\n

FIFA prohibits any international transfers for players under the age of 18, with a handful of exceptions, and also starts the development clock at 12. FIFA\u2019s transfer fee structures see more substantial \u201ctraining compensation\u201d fees paid until the age of 23, and a \u201csolidarity\u201d mechanism, which sees five per cent of the players\u2019 transfer fee (at all ages) distributed to all clubs that trained them between 12 and 23.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is crazy stuff. Rugby needs a better model\u2019<\/p>\n

Former Rebels coach Dave Wessels<\/p>\n

Rugby doesn\u2019t prohibit the recruitment of under 18s, and though there are loosely worded guidelines on not \u201cpoaching\u201d young players, the recruitment of young Queenslander Sio Kite by French club La Rochelle<\/a> at the age of 16 was controversial last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing it come through the school systems now where French clubs come in and poach our best young talent that we\u2019ve brought through the system to take into their academies,\u201d Waugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very conscious of that. It\u2019s just about getting the balance right with World Rugby and then just the governance layers that we need to work through to get to the right outcome for player welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Heinz<\/a><\/p>\n

Reform of regulation four is not straightforward, however. The richest club competitions in France and Japan are opposed to bigger transfer fees and have in the past threatened to wind back support for regulation nine in response.<\/p>\n

Regulation nine covers the release of players from clubs for Test match windows, but it is all largely based on gentleman\u2019s agreements. The regulation has never been tested legally and given the immense value of Test rugby in the game, World Rugby are keen for that to continue.<\/p>\n

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\"IainIain Payten<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-581290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}