As an avid Highlanders and New Zealand rugby supporter, I am worried at the future of our game.  The Bulls' victory in the Super 14 doesn't bother me as much as the dwindling depth in the New Zealand game.

A population of four million has always been enough to provide us with sufficient depth to produce five competitive teams, but with the mass exodus of players from the Highlanders, I am worried about the competition's smallest franchise.  The Southern men will lose their best asset, the entire front row, for next year's competition along with quality loose forward Josh Blackie and locks Kane Thompson and Filipo Levi.

These losses could further include resilient half-back Jimmy Cowan, loose forward Craig Newby and sharp-shooter Nick Evans.  These players add to a long recent list for a side whose university no longer has the pulling power it once held when attracting quality players like Taine Randell, Jeff Wilson and Marc Ellis.

With only around 200,000 people in the Highlanders' region, they require a boost to help the side return to the peaks of the late 1990s. This will only be achieved by the inclusion of North Harbour inside the Highlanders franchise. The current North Harbour Air New Zealand Cup side struggle to gain recognition in the Blues franchise.

This has forced high-calibre players like the Gear brothers, Evans, Newby and Chris Smylie to leave in recent years, while Ron Cribb, Rua Tipoki, Tusi Pisi, Willie Walker, Anthony Tuitavake and Villaime Waqesaduadua have been drafted in recent years.  There are quality players in North Harbour who are often overlooked and need to shift for recognition anyway.  These guys would generally be preferable to getting different players in the draft each year.

The second benefit would be the added attacking flair offered by the North Harbour guys.  The Highlanders combine the two worst attacking back-lines in the country, while this has been to the detriment of higher honours. Guys like Jimmy Cowan, Clarke Dermody, Newby and former All Black Paul Miller would have developed greater attacking ability for a Harbour/ Highlanders composite side.

The Highlanders are traditionally strong up front and in the halves, while Harbour are great in the loose and out wide. The current Super 14 side based on Highlanders and North Harbour players would read impressively whilst not really depleting an Auckland strong franchise with more players to choose from.  It may give some Northland players a chance.

Finally, they would get at least as many home games as they currently do, while Northland would always be there for Auckland as a franchise partner anyway. The  crowds would come if the side was successful. The Highlanders are a likeable underdog side who just need a foot up from a Harbour side who are the perennial underdogs as the biggest non-Super 14 franchise.   

Just for interest sake, a side for the Highlanders based on this year's Super 14 players: Pisi, Waqesaduadua, Tuitavake, McAlister, Wulf,  Evans, Cowan, Williams, Blackie, Newby, Rawlinson/Ryan,  Flavell, Hayman, Oliver, Woodcock. And don't forget Rua Tipoki, T Pisi, H MacDonald, C Dermody, A Boric.