Sad to see him go because he would be a nice option to have available at the WC in 2015. To be honest, it was hard to see him in the first choice 22 come 2015 but you never know with injuries. He's not really a genuine 8 (we should be looking at Higgers and Palu to be our Wallaby no.8s for 2014-2015). In terms of number 6, I think most people would agree that Fardy is now the incumbent, although after him I'm not sure. MMM could be a great option if he can stay fit, but that remains to be seen.
I'd like to see the ARU make a play for Kimlin to return to the brumbies in 2015. I know McKenzie had his eye of Kimlin after the Lions tour and he would be a handy replacement for Mowen.
Going forward, I think it's time for the ARU to review it's rules regarding eligibility of overseas players, particularly having regard to the implementation of the new super salary cap. I'm not necessarily saying we should or shouldn't change the rules but it should be looked at. With the disparity in salaries between the two hemispheres growing, situations like these are likely to increase in the coming years. We are now at a stage where we have more top level aussie talent than ever before playing overseas (Kimlin, Palmer, O'Connor, Giteau, Mitchell, Barnes, Timani, Chisholm, Ioane, George Smith - the list goes on). Whilst I appreciate the motivation behind the current rules, we should look at whether they are necessary. I'm a big believer that the strength of the national team is as important as ground-roots development in terms of building the sports profile. South Africa certainly benefit from their more relaxed rules and they don't have the same problems that we have in terms of lack of depth. Changing the rules is some way might result in an increase in players going a abroad, which would probably hurt our provincial teams in the short run, but that would also create more opportunities to create player depth. Furthermore, im not so sure there are a large number of players that would not prefer to be living and playing in Australia despite a rule change.
Anyway, I think it's worth discussing these issues now and throwing around potential solutions. We could perhaps implement a quota system which allows players who have played X number of tests for aus to be available for X number overseas. (i.e. a player that has played 5 tests for a Australia is eligible to play 1 test whilst contracted abroad). this would mean that senior players who have played 50 to 100 tests, could remain eligible whilst playing overseas). That's just one idea, but I'd like to see more thrown around.