Two decades after urging Rugby Australia not to "piss it up against a wall", Olympics heavyweight John Coates is repeating himself with the code's pay deal at a stalemate.
The sport's collective bargaining agreement expired almost two weeks ago, yet Rugby Australia (RA) and its players' union remain in a stand-off.
Central to the negotiation is the $100 million Rugby World Cup hosting payment that the Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) believes its members are entitled to a share of.
Other issues on the table include revenue sharing, winning bonuses, insurance, minimum wage and increased RUPA funding.
RA argue its counter offers have been fair and there is an obligation to safeguard the future of the code in the country, given it is forecast to post losses in financial years to come and doesn't possess a lucrative broadcast deal.
Coates, one of the nation's premier sporting administrators who served as the Australian Olympic Committee's president for 32 years and was also International Olympic Committee vice-president, has heard it all before.
"I've said as far back in 2003 when (former Australian Rugby Union boss) John O'Neill told me they were getting $48 million for that World Cup, or something like that, and I told him to make sure they didn't piss it up against the wall," Coates told AAP.
"But they did."
O'Neill's campaign to invest that sum was opposed by the state bodies and the money was whittled away inside a decade.
Twenty-three years later, faced with the same scenario, the states are in support of the desire to invest.
"If you're going to get a capital sum, put it away, limit what you're taking each year to your operations and capitalise the rest. There's no rocket science to it," Coates said.
"This is their chance and you've got to have discipline."
He pointed to the establishment of the Australian Olympic Foundation, the result of the AOC's $88.5 million legacy payment following the Sydney 2000 Games.
In December last year the foundation was worth $180.2m and had distributed more than $196m to Australian Olympians.
Last year a $28.542m injection funded the Olympian Futures Fund, covering Games participation and retirement grants as well as returns to competition after pregnancy.
No more than four per cent of the asset's value is allowed to be distributed for regular payments every four years.
"The AOF; it's all there to see, what we did," Coates said.
"Players have to understand that the organisation has to operate and they're at the top of the tree, with the ability to earn sponsorship."
The players' union released a statement on the eve of the Bledisloe Cup, arguing it was "unacceptable" its members were not cut into that World Cup payment.
Since then the Wallabies, many of whom are off contract after next year's Cup, have been flogged twice by the All Blacks and once by England.
RUPA president and current player Tom Robertson said players would be worse off under the latest proposal.
Ahead of Monday's (AEDT) Test against Scotland, Coates hopes "common sense prevails".
"We all should come together to make sure there is a viable Rugby Australia that can fund its various programs - pathways, schools, teams, coaches, referees - and not risk going under," the Brisbane 2032 Olympics board member said.
"Rugby Australia can't just be beholden to one union."
