Michaela Leonard to become most-capped Wallaroo in Anzac Day Test

Congratulations on the milestone. Thoroughly deserved recognition and I hope you have plenty more years in you because Australian rugby needs you.

Perhaps my harsh assessment of the Wallaroos and of Australian women's rugby generally needs to have a bit of perspective.

If 46 caps is the highest number of appearances of all time for a member of the women's squad, then it's no wonder that we have never beaten the BFs, Canada or England.

Most of our players have between 10 and 25 caps which makes them vastly inexperienced next to most of the players who make up the other sides in the top flight.

Most of our nearest rivals have regular members who have between 30 and 45 caps with many over 50 and what this does at the professional level is establishes a clear chasm in skill between those at the top and those at the bottom.

The Roos in particular find themselves in a bit of a no man's land, slightly too good for the second tier but not quite good enough for the top tier. And that has come about because they simply can't get more game time at the level.

And why this is such a bad thing is that in terms of time to accumulate these caps, some of these women have been playing for over 10 years but they have so little to show for it that there's not really anything for them to contribute after they retire, usually to do something unrelated to the sport because full professionalism is still so new.

Until they can start to accumulate some series game acumen by playing at least 50 tests by the time they've been in the squad for 4 years, the performances are not going to substantially improve.

The only reason that integration with 7s has proven such a boon for the top sides is because in the same period of time we have floundered they have been able to meld the high intensity regular game time of 7s to rapidly skill up their 15s whilst boosting the entirety of their women's comps.

Our last genuine performance that made us look like leaders was way back in 2016. Since then Australian women's rugby has dramatically stagnated and consistently fails to take that next step forwards.

The Pac4 this year has been very disappointing with the Aussie women being completely manhandled with ease by the Canadians and Americans and this weekend against the BFs is going to be no different.

In fact I think the performance in Kansas City was perhaps worse than the one in Sacramento and is more indicative of where they are at still at the bottom of the top tier.

While it is explained by the comparative lack of experience, that is no excuse for missing 25% of your tackles, turning over the ball more than double the amount of the opposition and being penalized more than twice as much while also having players sent off.

Those elements indicate deeper cultural issues within the side and lack of connection between the training and the on field performance. Where's the ownership of failure? Where's the leadership? Where's the commitment?

These things all seem to be absent from the team, like they're stuck in some strange limbo and aren't prepared to commit to anything or take a direction until some outside factor triggers a change from within or forces it upon them.

Whatever it is, as players they need to choose to get out of it or they'll keep failing to deliver. If your whole claim is to be treated the same as everyone else in terms of earnings and support, then you have to demonstrate that you can deliver consistently at the level that reflects the competition level you're trying to sell.

Playing against teams you're substantially better than and simply having too much quality for them to really challenge you proves absolutely nothing. And it is proven to be of no value when you get smashed 24-0 and then 33-12 in respective weeks.

If the Roos want to be taken seriously at the negotiating table then they have to play to the level they want to be recognized at. The recognition only comes once the performance has been demonstrated, not the other way around.

Losing by less is no longer enough. That can't continue to be the yard stick if you want people to regard you as top tier and then pay you as top tier. You have to start delivering at the level.