Sport: Untimely axings bad for Super 15

Outgoing Chiefs coach Ian Foster hit the nail on the head with his comments this week about the need to review the timing of Super 15 player contract negotiations.
The mid-competition power-play shake-ups we have now are an embarrassing shambles.
Petulant or not, marquee senior players with a massive fan base being given the axe while there are still ground tickets to be sold and Sky subscription deals on the table is just plain bad for business.
Surely Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett and the suits in Wellington could have waited until the end of the competition before announcing he'd showed his All Blacks Andrew Hore and Ma'a Nonu the door.
Imagine turning up for work on the Friday and being told by your boss that you're not wanted next year, but see you on Monday. Yep, you'd milk your sick day quota and then tell the boss to stick it.
But let's not even get into the untenable team environment Hammett's announcement must now have amplified in the Hurricane's changing shed.
As Foster also said this week, the Super 15 needs to sell itself more now than ever.
Ticket sales are down no more so than at Waikato Stadium and in these times of recession the Sky sports sub is the first thing to get a second look when reviewing the home budget.
Yet the bosses blunder on undermining the integrity of the very brands they're trying to sell.
The Highlanders' recent jersey switch debacle is another classic example of a band-aid fix going horribly wrong.
Players' Association boss Rob Nichol says the contracting "model" is not to blame for the culture of uncertainty that now pervades the competition.
Franchises, he says, just need to be more organised and have better relationships with their players.
He's right about that.
Foster says he's watched powerless as his players were given the news whether they had a job at the Chiefs under incoming coach Dave Rennie.
For most players, the lure of Northern Hemisphere money will always be impossible to resist.
They've been jetting off to Japanese and European retirement packages for as long as the Super 15's been going, and fans will accept that, especially when their idols are getting a bit longer in the tooth.
What they won't buy is being asked to line-up for cold pies and over-priced drinks to support teams axing their favourite players without giving the person who indirectly pays the salaries the courtesy of an explanation.
Get it together Super 15. At least there's a World Cup to look forward to this year.