OTB regular Alan Quinlan joined Ger in studio this morning to talk all things rugby, including potential moves for Leinster out-half understudies Ross Byrne and Joey Carbery.
In recent days, Ulster has been linked to the signature of the New Zealand-born Carbery and, as Quinlan opined this morning, just because of the potential signs for the Belfast-based outfit doesn't wouldn't mean he would return as a lesser player than before.
"Just because it’s not a winning culture there [in Ulster] now and they’re not challenging for European trophies and the Pro14 currently, that doesn’t mean you’re going to come back a worse player.
"OK, you want to play in a system where there’s really good players, he’s in one, he’s not starting but he needs to play matches as a 21, 22-year-old.
"To go through a year or two of a rebuilding process wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world as regards to his long-term development.
"Sometimes you need to experience some losses, a bit of adversity, to make you stronger.
"You don’t have to experience it, you can win-win-win like James Ryan all the time, but I think the system and what’s happening in Ulster, it’s only going to get better."
With both Byrne and Carbery rumoured to be moving away, the question then turned to how Quinlan would analyse how he would join a new team in his playing days.
"If I was signing anywhere, the first thing I want to do is know who’s the coach, what’s he like, what’s the reputation like and then you want to start looking at the squad, the players and the people there and say how good is this team and is there something good happening there.
"There’s a lot of risks there [moving away], there’s no doubt about that.
"Player movement around Ireland is something that the other provinces are going to have to embrace more and just deal with because of the numbers up here in Dublin.
"It’s up to the players themselves, they’ve got to be happy, but I don’t think [it’s good for] players going out, even if it’s only a year, because Sexton’s not going to go on forever and you think Leo Cullen doesn’t want to lose any of his back-up players because they could be there for a very long time."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
