The Wallabies may be busy plotting an unlikely Bledisloe Cup triumph in New Zealand, but that hasn't stopped their player body, the Rugby Union Players' Association [RUPA], from taking aim at Rugby Australia over an impasse in their Collective Bargaining Agreement [CBA] negotiations.
News of a breakdown in negotiations has rumbled around Australian rugby over the past few weeks, as the two bodies attempt to thrash out a new CBA before the end of the month.
But RUPA boss Adrian Turner on Tuesday afternoon took the extraordinary step of making his frustrations public, declaring Rugby Australia's proposal for players not to share in the revenue from next year's Rugby World Cup was "unacceptable".
"Australian rugby has a unique financial opportunity off the back of the Lions tour and our home World Cups, which will generate significant additional revenue for the game," Turner's statement read.
"There remain significant issues to work through about how players share in that growth. As one example, Rugby Australia proposes that players do not share in a single dollar of the significant hosting fee it receives for the 2027 World Cup. That is unacceptable."
Part of Turner's statement was shared to social media, where it was liked by Wallabies captain Harry Wilson, prop Angus Bell and fly-half Ben Donaldson, who are all poised to be named in Les Kiss' side for the first Test against New Zealand on Saturday.
An Instagram post also drew support from women's stars Desi Miller and Maddi Levi, with the CBA to set out employment terms for all professional teams in Australian rugby, from the Wallabies and Wallaroos, the two national sevens programs, and men's and women's Super Rugby teams.
After the success of the Lions' tour, and the looming $100m cheque Rugby Australia will receive from World Rugby for staging next year's World Cup, RUPA feel the time has come for its players to get what they deserve, having famously taken pay cuts in 2020 to help keep the game alive at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Players want to get a deal done and we have been trying to move these negotiations forward," Turner's statement added.
"We have put forward alternatives to try to bring the parties closer together, including when Rugby Australia asked us to do so. We now need Rugby Australia to reciprocate, respect the bargaining process and engage properly with the proposals in front of them.
"We cannot afford to keep losing time. The current CBA expires on 31 October and there is still a significant financial gap between the parties. The way to close that gap is through genuine bargaining... players sharing appropriately in the revenues they help generate is well established across professional sport. That principle should apply across all revenue streams players help create, including extraordinary events like a home World Cup.
"Our game simply cannot afford to waste the financial opportunity created by these events. We need to reinvest in the players and the settings that give Australian rugby the best possible opportunity to win.
"That means modern minimum salaries across our men's and women's full-time programs that keep pace with professional sport benchmarks, proper health and insurance protections, and adequate investment in player development and wellbeing programs.
"These are the settings that help us attract, retain and support our best men's and women's talent and put the best possible teams in Gold on the field.
"Winning will drive the next phase of growth in Australian rugby. Successful teams bring supporters back, strengthen the commercial value of the game and create more opportunities to invest across all levels of rugby."
Rugby Australia [RA] banked $70.6m on the back of the Lions tour last year, but RA boss Phil Waugh has continued to preach austerity measures, noting that Australia's "Golden decade" which included the men's and women's World Cups, and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, needed to feed the game's collective mouth for years to come.
"RA has proposed a revenue sharing deal of 32%, which is a 2-3% increase on its previous terms," Waugh told the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.
"It would lift the minimum annual commitment to players to 32%, increase minimum salaries across all full-time professional programs, establish a full-time integrated women's rugby program, expand the successful full-time women's sevens program, double the number of full-time professional female rugby contracts and ensure players share in any commercial growth, including by lifting salary caps.
"That commitment to our players is one we have honoured throughout the current cycle, with Rugby Australia and the Super Rugby clubs investing substantially above the CBA minimums. We look forward to continuing our conversations with RUPA and reaching an agreement together."
It is believed RUPA is seeking a figure well in advance of the 32% revenue share RA has proposed.
The negotiations come as Australia's elite players remain constant targets for overseas clubs, with Tom Hooper and Taniela Tupou ironically unavailable for Saturday's Bledisloe opener because of their club commitments with Exeter and Racin 92 respectively.
RUPA's argument is that an increase in salaries across the board may help keep talent on Australian shores for longer, while RA has already shown its willingness to contract players long term with sabbaticals clauses a key part of the terms.
The game is also battling the growing threat of the NRL on another front, with the competition to grow to 19 teams by 2028 with the introduction of the Papua New Guinea Chiefs.
RA has also publicly stated its intention to make the Wallaroos program fulltime, with new women's high-performance manager Tim Walsh recently saying he hoped that chance would occur by the end of the year.
But RUPA's decision to publicly table their frustrations in Bledisloe week is clearly a calculated move, with the Wallabies generally perceived to be as good a chance as ever to end their 40-year hoodoo at Eden Park.
"Players are asking for a CBA that gives them real skin in the game and aligns everyone behind growing the pie for Australian rugby," Turner finished.
"With the Bledisloe Cup this weekend and a busy international schedule ahead, players should be focused on representing Australia. RUPA's job is to keep these negotiations moving on their behalf.
"We are ready to bargain and do the work required to get a deal done. We need Rugby Australia to do the same."