Kaepernick just became the latest public figure to spea

At a time when Australia are clearly struggling for a win in Test rugby, it is important that the solution is an Australian approach.Australia need to look at their situation through Australian eyes not what the All Blacks or anyone else have been doing because its a different beast in itself. Its just too easy to look at what New Zealand are doing and try to replicate that.Theyve got probably four reasonably strong franchises with Melbourne joining the Brumbies, Waratahs and Reds, and they need to look to build from those four key areas. I dont think ditching one of the franchises would be a bad thing for them, as I have written previously, because with five they have diluted their playing pool. I think the more they can get their best players playing in closer vicinities, and against each other, the better they are going to be.Not knowing what they are doing at the development and grassroots side of their game, it is difficult to assess that, but you can assume they have got their traditional clubs who are trying their best. But I acknowledge that in competing with other sports it makes things extremely difficult.The policy of allowing players to be included from overseas probably helped them at last years Rugby World Cup but possibly they need to look at using that rule in a World Cup year only. But if you really want to keep your players you have to dangle that World Cup carrot. Ideally, you want to have players in Australia building up to the event perhaps from two years beforehand.What you are really talking about is the value of the jersey and being part of history by playing a World Cup against the value of the dollar. Everyones got their own motivations, and there are circumstances surrounding what position they play in and what competition they have to guarantee a starting spot.For Michael Cheika, all he can do is look to have the biggest possible pool of talent to select from; but having players overseas means that talent pool is not at his fingertips and he cant have control over them. If you rely on overseas players there are no guarantees they will return better players.What we have seen recently with players who have come back from overseas is that they are not the same players who left; especially the backs. If they lose half a yard of pace and a sense of space, they start playing a different game and thats not conducive to getting the best out of the team overall.There are a number of different instances of that in New Zealand. Australia need to have a seriously hard look at that rule and whether they keep it or ditch it.At any time, you only have a specific number of aces up your sleeve; by allowing them to play overseas, you are giving one or two of your aces away - and that puts the Australian game in a weaker position long term.New Zealand have committed themselves to their ruling regarding overseas players and they are going to stay very staunch on that rule because, as we have seen, there will always be somebody to replace you no matter how good you are. And you can see that right through to the grassroots and secondary school level. The next level of players coming through in New Zealand is pretty phenomenal.I guess it comes back down to the loyalty to the jersey and the pride of playing for your country.In terms of how you play when you are down on quality it is simple, you play to what strengths you have. And you always have to have a rock solid defensive system. With that in mind, I think David Pocock and Michael Hooper are clearly part of Australian rugbys strengths and getting those pilfering, scavenging players like sevens on the ball and over the breakdown should be a focus. They really want to play an expansive game, but I think the more they can isolate the opposition the better they are going to be with the likes of those scavengers.And with whatever areas you look at and then come up with a plan, it is one thing doing that; but if you have other weak areas, like second five-eighths, where Australia have two first-fives picked to play in that area, Australia dont really have the choice of selection that New Zealand has.If you look at the midfield, the wealth of talent New Zealand has to choose from at the moment highlights the difference between the two countries. It really comes down to how Australia can fill their bucket with talented players they can develop over the next three years.Do they look at league, or at players coming through? They probably are looking at what is coming through their own talent pool and giving long-term development contracts to give those guys as much development as possible.Next year they lose Pocock to a sabbatical and that is a chance to get a player in there and develop him at the top level. They know how good Pocock is. Richie McCaw and Dan Carter took six months out, and they came back better; Pocock is likely to be the same. Australia need him for the next World Cup and he will still be a class player when he comes back.It is interesting, looking ahead to this weekend with the All Blacks vs. Argentina game that it is almost the flipside of the Australian situation. The talented players that Argentina do have are in the right environment, and what they have done with just one Super Rugby team and being able to develop players for their national side will make them stronger; we are already starting to see that with what they did against South Africa last week.Their motivation is obvious. At some point they are going to tip the All Blacks over; by playing New Zealand twice a year now, history says there will be a day when that happens. The Argentine motivation is that they want to be part of that team that finally does beat the All Blacks for the first time.Every time the All Blacks play Argentina now, they have got to be on top of their game and have an understanding that Argentina have the same sort of flair and mentality as the French. You dont know what you are going to get on any given day; they can just turn up and be absolutely sublime or sometimes they can be clumsy and let themselves down. 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Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. Colin Kaepernick stood tall while sitting down, which is not an easy thing to do. In fact, what he did in benching himself for the national anthem on Friday night was the hardest thing he could possibly do.The easy thing? That would be standing silently with his teammates on the San Francisco 49ers sideline, cutting against the grain of his conscience. Nobody wouldve known the difference. Nobody would have reason to challenge his patriotism, to call him all kinds of nasty names, and to remind him, by the way, that he has devolved into a lousy quarterback who should be spending more time with his playbook anyway.But he planted himself among the Gatorade buckets, understanding that in an age of 24/7 surveillance, he would be outed soon enough. Kaepernick didnt strike the kind of dramatic pose made by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City, and that was OK. He made his statement loudly and clearly.I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color, Kaepernick told NFL Medias Steve Wyche, confirming Pro Football Talks original report. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.An unscientific survey of Twitter reaction from players, fans and observers offered more evidence that the country is divided, perhaps still broken, along racial lines. This emerged as the one undisputed truth about a story that will have legs as long as the quarterback doesnt use his during the pregame anthem:Kaepernick is a 28-year-old biracial man who was raised by the white parents who adopted him, and who believes he can no longer remain silent in a country where young, black men are too often shot by overheated cops, and where blacks are forever asked by whites to rise above obstacles that whites themselves created.African-American athletes are often asked (unfairly, perhaps) to speak out on social issues and, well, Kaepernick just did. If you dont like what the man did or said, thats your prerogative. But telling him that what he said and did was un-American is to lose sight of what it means to be an American.In some corners of the globe, Kaepernick might face prison time or worse for publicly disrespecting his country. Only the quarterback didnt disrespect the United States. While pointing out its fatal flaws -- socioeconomic and justice systems still tilted against African-Americans after all these years -- Kaepernick unwittingly reminded the world that the U.S. is still a pretty damn good place to live.His team released a statement praising what the anthem represents but recognizing that Kaepernicks boycott matched up with such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Hiis league said players are encouraged but not required to stand for the anthem.ddddddddddddHis coach, Chip Kelly, said he had no right to tell any player how to honor, or not honor, his country.This is what American servicemen and women have defended here and abroad -- Kaepernicks right to sing the national anthem at the top of his lungs, and to refuse honor it altogether. As long as hes not interfering with his teammates right to make their own red, white and blue choices, whats the problem here?But yes, people had problems. A lot of people. Matt Hasselbeck, former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst, tweeted this of Kaepernicks move: Easy way to make sure youre NOT the starting QB on opening day. #Sept. 11.On the job front, perhaps some broad-minded Niners players, coaches and executives were less concerned with the real-world distraction theyd have to deal with and more impressed by the fact Kaepernick showed some courage and leadership at great personal risk. If they take football away, my endorsements from me, Kaepernick said, I know that I stood up for what is right.On the Sept. 11 hashtag front, I remember standing near the smolder at Ground Zero?when an African-American cab driver from Queens told me he believed the terrorist attacks would spell the end of racism in America. He thought a common enemy would bring white and black together, and I recall thinking it was one of the nicest things I had ever heard. Sadly, it didnt prove prophetic. There remains a White America and a Black America, separate and unequal, and Kaepernick just became the latest public figure to speak out against the imbalance.And now youre going to tell him to stick to football? To just worry about beating out Blaine Gabbert? To stand before the game and show proper respect to everything that song and flag represents?Youre going to try to scare him into submission with a biblical flood of tweets?Most of todays athletes arent ready for the backlash, sociologist Harry Edwards told me at this years Super Bowl. Edwards was a source of inspiration behind the 1968 Olympic protest. And they forget they dont control that, especially in this age of 24-hour social media. This isnt the athlete revolt of 1967, when you were talking about a telephone and a single reporter at a major newspaper and then somebody else picking up the story. Today, you hit send and you have an instant worldwide audience.Kaepernick didnt fear that attention; go review his Twitter timeline, his retweets of issues in black and white. This day was coming for him, just as it was for many bold athletes who preceded him.They say football builds character. In America, we should celebrate the fact that Colin Kaepernick just revealed his. ' ' '