If you pay attention to enough podcasts or columns, every December is the end of the road for Munster.

Back in 2021, it was all over because Johann make ball go kick. In December 2022, it had never been more over than it was at that point. In December 2023, you best believe that it was all over. And now, after a two-point loss to Castres, we are Dr Manhattan sitting on Mars contemplating that it is December 2024, and it is indeed all over, and in every possible timeline.

Don’t be alarmed.

What you’re seeing is the end result of modern media being trapped between the two opposing ideas of needing to bait engagement for ads – and nothing gets clicks in the Irish rugby space like “Munster Bad” – and the need to convert those reads into paying subscribers.

I do the latter – you’re reading this, so you must have been converted to a subscriber at some point – but I’ve never done the latter because rage/engagement bait is incongruous with premium content.

Here’s a good example from the Irish Examiner this week with Donal Lenihen’s column. What are you drawn to in this headline?

The active part of this sentence is “Munster’s Problems” framed opposite to a Leinster positive, which is sure to draw a tonne of clicks from both Leinster fans (who want to revel in the positive/negative differential) and Munster fans, who want to tongue the ulcer, so to speak.

Lenihen’s article is actually pretty milquetoast and not nearly as negative as the headline makes it out to be. Munster in the headline gets the click, Munster Bad in the headline gets the click and the read to see just how bad it can get. Maybe I’m missing a trick.

That said, there’s a lot of negativity around where Munster are at right now. Some of that has to do with the external confusion over the head coach situation without a doubt. I say “external” confusion there because there isn’t much confusion internally as to what the next move is, and I expect a permanent solution to be revealed in the next few weeks.

A lot of it has to do with Munster’s current squad in a few areas and I feel that this negativity does have some current merit. Our front row is currently in need of some massive upgrades and I think a lot of the calls for a need to “overhaul” the squad has its roots in this unit.

I wrote about this earlier in the season in my Chart articles on our loosehead, hooker and tighthead depth charts. Since then, the prop charts in particular have taken a disastrous turn due to injuries.

Roman Salanoa hasn’t so much as made a move back to modified training as of the time of writing, and Oli Jager has only just returned from a nasty two-month neck injury that he suffered against the Ospreys on the 5th of October. That has meant that we’ve had to rely on Stephen Archer and John Ryan for an incredibly gnarly run of games where both men have done well in the circumstances but not at a level that raises the level of the team as truly elite front-rowers can do.

On the loosehead side, it’s been even worse when it comes to injuries. It got so bad that we were allowed to sign in an NIQ loosehead prop – Dian Bleuler – who will miss our game against Ulster due to… injury. Jeremy Loughman is still the man to anchor that position around in the short to medium term but at 29 years of age, we’re already at the point where we need to see some upward movement in the 22-25-year-old bracket, either from within the club or signed from outside.

Hooker is primarily filled with either solid citizens that will hopefully improve in tandem with the lineout itself under Alex Codling, or young lads that are maybe a year or two away from a possible breakout season.

The need for some power at loosehead and hooker, along with probably a depth signing at tighthead is pretty clear. The only problem is whether we can afford all three players at the quality level that will make a difference and whether or not we have the dispensation for at least one of them to be non-Irish qualified.

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When it comes to generating funds, the easiest way to do so has rested with Ian Costello, primarily, all season and with even more prominence since Rowntree’s departure; I’m talking about who to cut, and who to keep. This is always a decision between continuity and cover versus freeing up funds to go big in certain positions or radically reshape the squad as a whole. That, again, depends on dispensation and then getting the deals done.

Munster are in a position where two, maybe three players in the front row are likely to retire this coming off-season. Stephen Archer could well have retired last season but he’s muscled through another slog of a season because Munster needed him to with Salanoa’s injury. The club owes the man a debt of gratitude that goes beyond the bank deposit every two weeks, let’s put it that way. John Ryan looks the fresher of the two men at the moment and, depending on how the body is feeling and how our other contracting work goes, he might well pick up another year deal to take him to 37. Dave Kilcoyne’s injury record in the last two years suggests that, at 36 years old, he might well be on his last contract but we thought that last season too.

These make up a small part of the 25 contracts that we have expiring this season at the time of writing. Here is a list of all of the senior deals, plus what I would do if I were doing the contracting with an estimation on whether Munster would be saving or losing money based on the estimated current value of the deal next to the hypothetical new contract value.

• CORE 1: A vitally important player who will start most games or play an important role in them.
• CORE 2: An important senior player who will likely make squads as a starter or replacement in elite games.
• SQUAD 1: A player who can slot in for one of the CORE 1/2 players if they are injured and can be a match day 23 player for lower tier games as a starter or replacement.
• SQUAD 2: A player who is an intermittent option in the match day 23 regardless of opposition.
• FOUNDATION 1: A young player – under 25 – who can become a CORE 1 player.
• FOUNDATION 2: A player expected to top out around CORE 2 or SQUAD 1 level.
• PRIORITY 1/2/3: A player who needs to be cycled out inside one year (most pressing), two years (wiggle room) and three years (ageing but not a pressing matter)
• REPLACE 1: A player who probably needs to be replaced in the squad for next season as a matter of urgency.