KEY POINTS:
I don't think it's quite as bad as it sounds when Graham Henry says there are more professional players outside the country than in it.
Okay, you'd probably get 100 high-profile names if you looked at that whole list of 250 playing overseas, but I'm picking you'd also
get a lot of players who would not make the All Blacks, and maybe not be eligible for them, or who would not get into a Super 14 team.
I'd also say we are starting to see a new trend - those players coming home. Look at Josh Blackie, for example, coming back to play for the Blues now that Daniel Braid is going to the Reds. I think that's positive and I think we will see more of it.
Blackie was close to an All Black jersey when he left and I'm picking he'll be close to it again when he returns. So that's good for New Zealand rugby; to get more experienced players coming back.
The same thing happened when Leon McDonald went overseas but then returned to get back into the All Blacks - and most people considered that a success. McDonald benefited from his overseas stint and New Zealand rugby benefited from his return.
That's what the New Zealand game has to do - use older, experienced players to advantage. They are doing that with the likes of Blackie and McDonald and I think they could do more of it.
It wasn't so long ago Justin Marshall was angling to come back but I'm not sure what he'd done wrong with the All Black and Canterbury camps but those doors seemed firmly closed.
Maybe Justin wanted a guarantee of All Black selection, I don't know, but surely there's room for him in the New Zealand game, especially seeing we are not drowning in top class halfbacks right now.
It's not just players travelling overseas who benefit from the change. Look at Canterbury winger/fullback Paul Williams who is going home to the Blues now there is a place for him. He has improved enormously after there was no room for him in Auckland and he went to Otago then Canterbury.
You can mount an argument that the players departing leave a hole in our depth - and they do. But I am still pretty relaxed about players heading off at the end of this season like Greg Somerville, Mose Tuiali'i, Scott Hamilton, Chris Masoe and Hoani MacDonald.
Somerville will obviously be missed and Tuiali'i is a shame because he is still in the top two or three No 8s in New Zealand. Masoe has reached the point in his career where overseas is the obvious option as his path to the All Blacks seems to be blocked.
But the likes of Hamilton, MacDonald, Tane Tuipolutu and others are going because they might make a Super 14 franchise but that will be about their lot.
There are plenty like them and, below them, I think you'll find many players who can't get into a Super 14 team making up that number of 250 pro players from New Zealand overseas.
Look at Riki Flutey, the undeniably talented player who couldn't make the Hurricanes set-up regularly but who is now being talked of as a prospect for England.
Now that works on two levels - either Flutey has improved a lot and is up to international class or British back play is not as good as ours. Either way, Flutey will have benefited from this.
New Zealand rugby has done well to get Blackie back and I look forward to other players following that lead.