The NSW Waratahs will step up their desperate quest to retain inspirational flanker Rocky Elsom as the Super 14 runners-up face up to the sad realisation that the close-knit side is about lose its heart and soul.
Along with skipper Phil Waugh, Elsom and lineout king Dan Vickerman have been the glue which has kept the Tahs together during a spirited 2008 campaign laced with off-field drama and controversy.
Yet, unless Waratahs chief executive Jim L'Estrange can pull a rabbit out of his hat, Waugh will be the only one of the champion Wallabies trio still on deck next season.
Vickerman is off to study and play in England and Elsom is almost certain to follow suit in a similar mid-career lifestyle change.
Believing his departure to be a fait accompli, Waugh even bade farewell to Elsom in his presentation speech following last night's 20-12 final loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch.
L'Estrange, though, today said he had not given up hope of keeping Elsom, the Waratahs' official 2007 player of the year and players' player and a leading contender for repeat honours this season.
"With players like Rocky, you'll take any sniff to try to hang in there," L'Estrange said.
"But we're trying to do our thinking around the fact that unfortunately he might be moving on.
"We'll hopefully hang on to him. At the last second, I'll try to stop him getting on the plane if I have to."
Elsom maintained he was "no closer to a decision" but, while admitting it would be a wrench to leave and predicting a bright future for the Waratahs regardless, the 25-year-old intimated he was leaning towards going.
"I think if I was heading off, I'd just announce it," he said.
"We probably couldn't have had a more enjoyable year than we've had now. Not necessarily on the field, but just off the field and with the team.
"It's a sad thing that, at the end of every year, the team is never the same and we had a really good mix this year.
"We played with a lot of front and confidence and a lot of that, I think, was because we had a lot of strong ball runners.
"But then you see young blokes like Tommy Carter, Rob Horne just taking on that confidence and just playing so much better than everyone expected.
"I think that makes me really proud to be part of the side and obviously sad that the team is not going to be the same again."
L'Estrange, who will tomorrow recommend that the board appoint former Australian under-21s coach Chris Hickey as Ewen McKenzie's replacement, said the Waratahs would have a "great platform" from which to build on even if Elsom left.
"We'll bring some players in," L'Estrange said.
"The succession planning has been pretty good over the last few years and we'll go and make sure those players come through to Super 14 level and we'll move on."
There have also been fears that much of the peripheral staff would follow McKenzie out the exit door, but L'Estrange was confident of at least retaining respected assistant Les Kiss, who has helped develop the Waratahs into one of the most feared defensive outfits in the tournament.
But he said the board was in no rush to finalise the full make-up of Hickey's support staff and was more concerned about the new coach meeting the Waratahs' non-negotiable criteria.
"There's no doubt the responsibility with the new coach is for the Waratahs to win," he said.
"That's got to be the primary [criteria]. That's what we're trying to do. We always try to do. We believe we should."
AAP
