Jack Dempsey will leave NSW at the end of the season.Credit:Getty
When Dempsey leaves,the Waratahs will have lost a staggering 843 Test caps worth of experience in their ranks since 2019.
While Michael Hooper (105 Tests) will return in 2022 following a season in Japan,the exodus of Australian representatives to have left NSW includes Sekope Kepu,Tolu Latu,Bernard Foley,Adam Ashley-Cooper,Israel Folau,Nick Phipps,Taqele Naiyaravoro,Curtis Rona,Kurtley Beale,Ned Hanigan,Tom Robertson,Karmichael Hunt and last year’s captain,Rob Simmons.
A number of these players left after the 2019 World Cup,as is normally the case every four years,and NSW has invested in a new crop of players coming through. But eyebrows have been raised at the fact it has been all one-way traffic,and the Waratahs have not been able to attract other internationals to fill the vacancies.
Including Dempsey (14 Tests),the Waratahs look set to field a team against the Queensland Reds in their Super Rugby AU season opener that features a total of only 30 Tests caps between five players (Dempsey,Jake Gordon,Angus Bell,Johnson-Holmes and Jack Maddocks).
Jack Dempsey at Waratahs training on Monday.Credit:Louie Douvis
Penney made it clear on Monday NSW desperately wanted to keep Dempsey but pointed towards financially superior offers overseas as the factor hampering the organisation’s ability to retain star players.
“We didn’t want to lose him but there’s a lot of reasons for his departure and he will allude to them at some stage in the future I guess,” Penney said. “We’re rapt to have him for this campaign.