A BUSINESS decision. The description of how Newport Gwent Dragons were going to have to approach the Taulupe Faletau situation.

At times rugby lags behind when it comes to approaching professional sport; it is imperative that business rather than the heart is at the forefront of the vast majority of decisions that are made.

Ideally there is a balance – and nobody wants a Mike Ashley at Newcastle scenario – but successful sporting organisations are rarely built on romantic ideals.

It may appear cold but the Rodney Parade bosses have to use a risk assessment approach when it comes to a 24-year-old who has given his all in 97 games since a memorable debut in a Murrayfield victory when he dropped the ball with the line at his mercy.

With Bath and Northampton interested in bringing the Lions number eight in a year early the board has to weigh up how many games Faletau will play (10 due to World Cup and Six Nations commitments?) and how much money a deal with an Aviva Premiership side would be worth (six-figure transfer fee plus salary savings making a total of around £400,000?).

Of course it is naive to think that the clubs hold the power in all of this. If a player wants to go then they will usually go, so it’s about protecting your asset.

The transfer fee is more common than you’d believe in rugby and clubs will, and should, be looking to football when it comes to contract renegotiations.

The frequency that soccer players sign new deals is alarming; they can commit for five years one summer and then be asking for fresh terms the next.

No doubt agents have their part to play in this but the clubs are rightly gripped by the fear of losing top talent for nothing.

Rarely will top clubs allow talent to run down a contract into its last year, setting them up to leave for free on a ‘Bosman’ Yet in Welsh rugby we have the situation where Faletau, Rhys Webb, Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar (the Ospreys trio on national dual contracts) are all scheduled to become free agents next summer.

Traditionally rugby clubs have operated with two-year contracts but perhaps that will soon change with longer deals and more escape clauses.

This week Newcastle were forced to bite their tongue when lock Dom Barrow left for Leicester, invoking a clause that allowed him to leave his deal early if the Falcons finished below tenth in the Aviva Premiership.

Players want to be paid well but also want glory, especially given the increasingly frequent headlines that they see about one of their peers having to retire early.

It has been extremely rare for Newport Gwent Dragons to have a tilt at silverware so it has been natural to see the likes of Ian Gough, Luke Charteris and Dan Lydiate heading off for a fresh challenge.

Nobody bemoans good servants that.

But the club also deserves to be rewarded so expect more examples of escape clauses, perhaps being accompanied by minimum release fees.

And there needs to be a cultural change whereby clubs are almost made to feel dirty for accepting a transfer fee.

If the player fancies a change and another team is interested then why not accept a sum that ensures that everybody gets the best out of the situation?

The Scarlets were demonised in some quarters for the way that George North departed for Northampton in 2013 when his contract was due to expire in 2014.

They helped develop a player, they paid him handsome wages but he fancied a move at the end of his deal.

The notion that they should just say ‘hey ho’, forego a much-needed £250,000 fee and keep hold of a player who would ideally like to be elsewhere for a year is baffling.

We are no longer in an age of one-club men so rugby had better get used to there being more dealings in hotels foyers and service stations.

Don’t get too attached to your favourite players and hope that when they do go your club makes the most of the situation.

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IT’S not impossible that Faletau will stay on at Rodney Parade but the smart money is on the number eight playing elsewhere in 2016, if not sooner.

It will be strange to see the Pontypool-raised number eight in other colours, just like it was seeing Luke Charteris in the red and yellow of Perpignan and Dan Lydiate in the light blue and white of Racing Metro.

But it’s not all doom and gloom courtesy of the burgeoning backs at Newport Gwent Dragons.

Had Faletau left a year or two ago then things would have been pretty grim and would have left you fearing about the state of affairs at Rodney Parade.

It would have meant that no players would have had (Newport Gwent Dragons)after their name in Warren Gatland’s Wales squad.

But the presence of Hallam Amos, Tyler Morgan and Jack Dixon at the Vale of Glamorgan training headquarters as preparations intensify for the World Cup provides some comfort along with up and coming forwards Elliot Dee and Ollie Griffiths, who have both caught the eye of the national management team.

It would be stretching it to say that Faletau won’t be missed if he opts to move on – and the marketing department would certainly bemoan the loss of the Dragons’ one household name – but the squad can cope given that Lewis Evans, Ed Jackson and Nick Crosswell are already frontline options at number eight with Wales Under-20s prospect Harri Keddie coming along nicely.

And given that the Dragons now have upcoming Welsh talent in Gatland’s thoughts, arguably the wages that Faletau commands would be better spent on a strong prop, gnarled lock or experienced fly-half from overseas.

That’s the minimum demand for the long-suffering supporters at Rodney Parade. What they won’t stand for is a Faletau windfall not being reinvested.