To draft or not to draft is no longer the question - the issue is whether the Highlanders can persuade their bosses to alter a long-standing policy.
The battling franchise is formulating a bold plan to go to the New Zealand Rugby Union to ask if it will revisit its laws on the Super 14 draft.
Highlanders chief executive Richard Reid hopes the national body will consider allowing franchises to hold on to players they have drafted in an attempt to build a stable squad.
``Any team in any sport is a three-year job, if you're starting from ground zero,'' Reid told the Otago Daily Times.
``Everyone's aware of this issue. We're the smallest franchise and the smallest one will always have an issue.
``What was the intent of the Super competition? To have five competitive franchises for the benefit of New Zealand rugby. Under the current rules, what has transpired is that we are building up a base of players and we can't get them back.
``We need the ability to hang on to more players if we are going to build a team. We'll be stuck where we are if we have to bring in eight or nine players every year.''
As it stands, the Highlanders can draft a player if he has not been listed among the 24 protected players in his own franchise. But the deal is for one season only, and the home franchise has the right to pick the player first the following season.
Winger Fetu'u Vainikolo and prop Clint Newland are good examples in this year's squad.
Northland's Vainikolo, probably the Super 14 rookie of the year, is playing so well he will demand selection in the Blues next year, and Hawkes Bay's Newland would be a valuable addition to the erratic Hurricanes front row.
The Highlanders spotted those two players, gave them a chance to play at the top level and helped develop their abilities. Yet they face the likelihood of losing them after one season.
Only when a player has been drafted twice by a franchise is he given the right to choose to return to the team. Lock Ross Filipo, who plays for Wellington in the Air New Zealand Cup and chooses to go back to the Crusaders each Super 14, is an example.
Reid does not know how many of the eight draft players in the Highlanders this year will be back for a second season. But he said neither Otago nor Southland would be in a position to offer big contracts to any of the players, so the draft would be needed to get them in Highlanders
colours again.
The Highlanders have been on a draft roller-coaster. They hardly needed help in 1997-99, when they were built around a powerful Otago side, but they drafted heavily from 2000 to 2006.
Just two players were drafted as the franchise flirted with a controversial policy last year, but the floodgates opened again this year when new coach Glenn Moore brought in eight players.
Since their inception in 1996, the Highlanders have drafted an average of 5.5 players a season.
The issue is not that the Highlanders get outside help. As by far the smallest franchise in New Zealand, they are understandably in need of some bolstering from outside the borders.
The problem is that so many players come and go after one year, and that contributes to the cycle of constant rebuilding in which the Highlanders have been mired for about five years.
When the system works, it really works. A player who might not get a chance with the powerful Crusaders or Blues can often find a good home in the Highlanders. That helps the Highlanders, helps the player and helps New Zealand rugby.
It should also be remembered that the Highlanders have not begged for clemency and asked for stars such as Richie McCaw and Sitiveni Sivivatu to be sent south. They have selected players nobody else wanted, and are asking to be able to keep them.
So, what might happen now?
Moore has already hinted at his desire to rebuild the Highlanders over a three-year period and the need to get his many draft players back on a regular basis.
But the issue has to be taken to the top, and not only to the NZRU but to the other franchises and to the New Zealand Rugby Players Association. They might be reluctant to establish new laws that would be designed principally with the Highlanders in mind.
