No, or at least I don't think it's any more reductive than most of what we post here. There are always individual circumstances to these decisions that are usually hard to know from the outside, but there's been absolutely no indication that Donaldson is looking to get back to Sydney or even out from the Force.
I definitely wouldn't be looking at it like a move the Rebels as Ghost did either - a move West is pretty different for people in all professions, not just rugby. It's a much more significant move with less direct linkage back home and the make or break for a lot of people tends to come earlier. It's pretty significant that we haven't seen a trend of Force players flooding back east after their re-introduction to the comp. If it does happen it tends to be via a move overseas first, and then an eventual return home.
On the lifestyle factor I think you're probably underrating Perth there. I can't speak to Canberra, but Perth is arguably the best 'lifestyle city' in Australia for young professionals (~25-35), and as far as size goes it's much more a kin to Brisbane. The isolation has actually benefited it a fair bit in this - if people in Perth want something cool they can't just hop a long the east coast for the weekend, they need to make it happen locally. The beaches, close wine regions and WAPA really help boost this and has lead to a pretty varied and interesting offering.
None of this is to say the tahs can't get Donaldson back, but all things being equal (which they do generally look to be), they're probably going to need to bid overs to get someone like Donaldson back, which is something I don't think they have any capacity to do for an established wallaby. This is different for players who are undervalued at their current province, but Donaldson is probably in the top 3 most important players to the Force and they're future plans right now (Tizzano and Williams the other two, Pearce and Potter just outside that for mine).
The alternative is to present a much more stable setup with greater potential, but while it's improving from last years mess it doesn't look like a selling point compared to the Force right now, at least not for a well established player at the Force (it'd be much more of a toss up for a neutral choosing between the two). That was my point about Gleeson and Leota - not that the setup turned them off, but the loss of two crucial players in the pack (Gleeson in particular) leaves more currently unanswered questions about where they're going and would give someone like Donaldson pause. He might end up thinking something like "Is this going to be another shaky rebuild year next year, and will I cede too much ground in the battle for the Wallaby 10 jersey by making the jump?". It would likely be a very different story if Cron was off contract right now, but he's signed through to the end of 2026 so the guys in Perth know what to expect.
