Conrad Smith is the latest All Black to be linked to a move overseas. He will go with acknowledgment of a fine stint in New Zealand. But after all that investment, New Zealand Rugby will receive nothing in return when he leaves. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn looks at the thorny issue of transfer fees in rugby.
Imagine tending to your cherry orchard all year long.
Watering it, clipping those buds, getting up to fight frost on those cold spring mornings.
Then, just as it comes to picking time, when the cherries get nice, red and juicy, a couple of those prime trees take off to another orchard.
They just wander off with all the fruit about to be picked, and the poor old grower loses some of his hard-earned investment.
Sure, this is a tall story - trees can't walk - but in a rugby sense, the cherry harvest is coming in and plenty of prime pieces of fruit are leaving this country for free.
And New Zealand Rugby is the poor old grower - getting nothing in return for all its investment.
Under the current regime of world rugby, there is no transfer system of any shape.
From time to time, it is mooted by a coach or a New Zealand Rugby administrator.
But it has as much of a chance of success as a New Zealand situation comedy.
Take someone such as former Otago flanker Hugh Blake, who has been whistled into the Scotland side shortly after landing in Edinburgh.
He has attended countless coaching sessions, held and paid for by New Zealand Rugby.
He was selected for the New Zealand Colts in 2012.
A fair bit of money has been ploughed into his development.
But now all that investment will be lapped up by Scotland.
What if he goes on to be a 100-cap player, helps lead Scotland to the Triple Crown?
All off the back of significant investment by a country on the other side of the world.
Gareth Anscombe is another - off to Wales after he has been fine-tuned over the years by coaches in this country. It hardly seems fair.
University of Otago school of physical education professor Steve Jackson said New Zealand had its chance when rugby went professional to bring in a transfer system and missed the opportunity.
''If you go back to 1995, when rugby went professional, it all happened so fast. I don't think anyone realised the value of the commodity they had at the time,'' Jackson said.
''That is when they [New Zealand Rugby] should have set up a transfer system, set their own appearance fees and their own special television deal.''
But it all went by quickly and now transfer systems are a pie-in-the-sky dream.
There was a domestic system for a while but that appears to have disappeared.
Jackson said the way World Rugby [formerly IRB] was structured, any transfer system was not looking likely.
''I wouldn't put them in the same category as the IOC or Fifa but they work in their best interests. Other countries have the balance of power and don't want a transfer system.''
We are talking serious money. Last year, football had $NZ5.45 billion worth of transfers.
Rugby would not be on that scale but it could bring in some serious coin to New Zealand Rugby.
Last year's New Zealand Rugby Almanack had nearly 300 New Zealand players plying their trade professionally overseas.
If their new clubs had to pay a blanket $10,000 transfer fee, that would be $3 million into the coffers of New Zealand Rugby.
Not surprisingly, the players do not support a transfer system.
International Rugby Players Association member services manager Josh Blackie, the former Highlanders flanker, said it was a fairly complex area.
''From a player's perspective, any transfer fee in rugby ends up acting as a tax on the player and the player ends up being disadvantaged,'' Blackie said.
''The majority of player movement involves contracts that are of moderate levels and not the high-end ones predominantly reported in the media.''
A rugby union is only a part of the picture in regard to a player's development. We'd argue that there are many others who contribute to a player's development, so if a rugby union feels they are entitled to compensation then why not the parents, the school, the church, the athletics club etc?
''There is no transfer fee on coaches, trainers or administrators in the game, so why should a player be treated any differently?''
Dan Carter:
Value: $4 million. Best player in the world (on form), great goal-kicker, often injured. Football comparison: Steven Gerrard.
Ma'a Nonu:
Value: $2 million. Still performs when needed. Bit moody, no spring chicken. Football comparison: Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Beauden Barrett:
Value: $3.5 million. Great utility, top impact player, on the rise. Football comparison: Harry Kane.
Aaron Smith:
Value: $2.5 million. Top-notch, far ahead of the rest, pocket rocket. Football comparison: Xavi.
Kieran Read:
Value: $3 million. Huge engine, clutch player, never beaten. Football comparison: Yaya Toure.
Richie McCaw:
Value: $3 million. Most-capped All Black, never-say-die attitude, born winner. Football comparison: Lionel Messi.
