From Belfast to Port Moresby, and any number of destinations in between, Australian rugby has never been more vulnerable to external poaching threats than it is right now.
If the growing tentacles of European or Japanese clubs and the French academy system weren't enough, Rugby Australia is now exposed to two further NRL clubs -- one of which has tax-free status.
And while RA is armed with riches it has seldom enjoyed in the professional era to repel that threat, chief executive Phil Waugh, head of high performance Peter Horne, and chief bean counter Richard Gardham know they must continue to preach from the austerity hymnbook.
The news that 19-year-old Reds star Treyvon Pritchard was in the sights of the PNG Chiefs probably shouldn't have come as the shock it turned out to be, the teenager is, after all, a rare backline talent.
But a red herring that surfaced a few days earlier linking the same franchise with a play for Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was a clever distraction tool -- and one that then only amplified the gut punch that Pritchard, and his brother Kadin, might entertain a code switch.
Just eight games into his Super Rugby career, Treyvon Pritchard, unsurprisingly, isn't short on career options.
And neither was Massimo De Lutiis, Pritchard's Reds teammate, who earlier this year was squarely in the sights of Irish club Ulster. RA was forced to act to retain De Lutiis, who later inked a two-year extension, despite the fact he was yet to pack a Super Rugby scrum this season.
Potential was doing much of the heavy lifting for Queenslander De Lutiis, so too the fact that tighthead props don't grow on mango trees. And so is Pritchard's potential, though it has been there for all to see this season -- and was then only reinforced with his first Super Rugby try at Suncorp Stadium last Friday night.
They are two players very much at the start of their careers, in completely different positions, yet both are equally attractive from a recruitment perspective.
While RA can do nothing about the PNG Chiefs -- aside from joining the growing chorus of parties questioning why $600 million worth of public money has been given to a rugby league team -- the governing body has leaned on World Rugby to act on overseas poaching, or at least improve the paltry transfer fee that currently exists.
Had De Lutiis agreed to join Ulster on a deal worth a reported $500,000 a season, the Reds would have stood to have made just $48,000, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. After putting in the hard work to develop the prop, helping him through a number of injuries along the way, that figure, just under one tenth of Ulster's reported contract, doesn't exactly scream financial justice.
The presence of French clubs in Australia, signing underage talent as part of the JIFF program, has meanwhile also caused alarm at RA, particularly in the case of back-rower Heinz Lemoto who was picked up by powerhouse Top 14 side Toulouse last year.
While RA remains hopeful Lemoto may yet return to Australia to chase a Wallabies jersey, a potential five-year residency fulfilment with France could also be well underway. Lemoto, or any of the more than 25 young Australians in France, could become the next Emmanuel Meafou.
And now, for the next 18 months at least, RA will also have to monitor the PNG Chiefs -- with no chance of any remittance whatsoever should either of the Pritchard boys, or any other player, opt for a code switch.
And while the lure of a home World Cup has helped keep many players on home soil next year, and even into 2028, and resulted in code switches like Zac Lomax in the opposite direction, the global showpiece won't be a selling tool come November next year.
Sure, RA will bank a reported $100 million for hosting the tournament in a major boost of its bottom line, but that windfall, on top of the one garnered from last year's British and Irish Lions series, needs to support Australian rugby for decades to come.
The balance between paying talent -- some of it unproven at Test level -- and not squandering cash to appease the demands of an overzealous player manager, will therefore become a key focus. And one that only New Zealand, who are losing multiple players at the end of this season, of the other major rugby playing nations really must confront.
So while Australia has solidified its talent foundations in recent times, the threat to those same playing streams has never been greater. From Europe to Asia and now just 150kms to the north of the country, the walls are fast closing in -- with a beefed-up cheque book in PNG to boot.