Former ACT Brumbies Ben Mowen and Peter Kimlin are on a recruiting hit list for Wallabies coach Michael Cheika as he attempts to lure Australian stars back to Super Rugby and end cashed-up European clubs poaching players.
Departed Wallabies and Brumbies skipper Mowen and Kimlin will be targeted as overseas players Cheika believes can still play for Australia if they make a Super Rugby comeback.
Cheika said Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White was also a World Cup contender despite his decision last week to sign a lucrative deal with French club Montpellier.
Cheika refused to accept the perception that rich contracts overseas will take priority over playing for Australia. Mowen is playing with Montpellier and Kimlin at Grenoble after sacrificing the chance to play for Australia.
"I'm talking about repatriating them back into Australia full stop," Cheika said.
"We're not just a part of the market that should just sit here and wait for players to be taken off us.
"We can go out there and get players back as well. As much as people talk about the dollars overseas, they're not that different if you're creative in the way you work it.
"Maybe for the top guys it's different, but the next level down the money isn't that different.
"I'm sure that the thirst still burns for guys like [Kimlin and Mowen] to come back and play for Australia."
The ARU is expected to overhaul its contracting system as early as this year to allow players to supplement their earnings by taking sabbaticals to Europe or Japan between Super Rugby seasons to keep the top talent in Australia.
White, James Horwill, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Scott Higginbotham have said they will leave Australian rugby after the World Cup at the end of the year.
Several more are set to follow as rich clubs prepare to swoop on players who are keen to experience a new lifestyle.
Cheika admitted he was shocked by White's decision to leave the Brumbies, less than six months after the 24-year-old was the Wallabies' starting No. 9.
"But White's playing here, he's 100 per cent available [for the World Cup], but I was a little bit surprised," Cheika said.
Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham is set to join Cheika's coaching set-up for the World Cup.
Larkham will become the backs coach and has been in constant contact with Cheika about a joint vision for the team's hopes of lifting the trophy in October.
Cheika has already started drawing up a list of 48 players to keep his eye on in coming months, including Brumbies David Pocock, Scott Sio and Stephen Moore.
"I've seen the guys from Canberra who didn't come on the spring tour who I think could be in the frame [for the World Cup]," Cheika said.
Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham predicted the battle for Wallabies selection and key recruitment across all teams would make the 2015 season the most competitive in the competition's 20 years.
The Reds will play the Brumbies at Canberra Stadium on February 13 to start the season, with Graham declaring marquee men James O'Connor and Karmichael Hunt ready to impose themselves on Super Rugby.
"We know where the Brumbies and Waratahs have been over the last couple of years, we've seen that and we're ready," Graham said.
"The Force had a good season last year ... we have confidence in what we have done. But I think the Aussie conference is the most competitive it has ever been."
