OPINION: It wouldn't be an overstatement to say Australian rugby has never been in such a state of peril as it faces now.
Even when you put the Wallabies' poor results aside, there is infighting at board level, a billionaire mining tycoon from Perth threatening to drain the ARU's coffers, and Super Rugby franchises that haven't won a game against a New Zealand side in 15 months.
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It's scary to think that with 20 minutes remaining in the World Cup final less than two years ago, they trailed the All Blacks by just four points with an extra man on the park, thanks to Ben Smith's yellow card.
Since that moment Australian rugby has hit the skids at rapid speed and it's hard to see a way out - ever.
The days of the Bledisloe Cup meaning more than just another chance to wind up our Australian buddies are well and truly behind us.
That's not what I grew up with. I feared playing the Wallabies; now I feel sorry for them.
Here are three key factors in the decline of Australian rugby.
Michael Cheika
I personally like his jib but he can no longer back up his words with performances.
Cheika's rhetoric has always been about staying on the front foot - he did wonderful things at the Waratahs, turning the side around in the space of 12 months into a dynamic outfit that pipped the Crusaders for Super Rugby glory in 2014.
It was hoped he would do the same thing with Australian rugby, but in reality quite the opposite has happened.
Despite a positive start, winning 11 of his first 16 games at the helm, the woeful Wallabies have struggled to find any consistency since, winning only eight of their last 19 Tests - including June's loss to Scotland and last weekend's thrashing at the hand of the world champions.
Cheika has lost his way. He clearly has strengths in player motivation but lacks the skill and tactical cunning to coach at the highest level for a long period of time.
There are only so many times you can talk up your players and team philosophy.
Results talk in international sport and Cheika isn't delivering on his promises.
The 50-year-old has passed his use-by date and it's time for Australian rugby to move on.
Lack of coaching talent
Herein lies a bigger problem: who replaces Michael Cheika if he gets pushed?
Stephen Larkham is arguably the best Australian candidate, but his resume is light on results having taken the Brumbies to two home quarter-finals against New Zealand franchises, and losing both.
Larkham's time may come but quite frankly, at this point, he is not up to it.
The fact is no-one in Australian rugby appears up to pulling the Wallabies out of this rut.
The coaching talent in Australia is thin. There may be some talented young coaches coming through at junior level but that doesn't help them now.
There is a plethora of talented candidates in the wider rugby world who could make an impact and bring some calm back to the green and golds.
Dave Rennie, Vern Votter, Joe Schmidt, Chris Boyd, Eddie Jones and Jake White all have a history of turning around sides that underperform.
They know how to build something special without necessarily having the most talented side, but they bring the discipline and tactical nous required to get the best out of their players.
Australians only support winners
The fact is, nobody in Australia outside of diehard rugby fans even cares about a 54-34 loss to the All Blacks.
Saturday's Test was the lowest-attended All Blacks fixture at Sydney's ANZ Stadium in history.
Australians only support winners. Losing isn't in their psyche - it's why we love to hate our neighbours.
The young potential rugby talent coming through only knows the Wallabies as an underachieving side that wins about one in 10 against New Zealand.
Track back to the late 1990s when Australia won the World Cup twice and secured regular wins over the All Blacks.
That trend continued through to 2002, when the All Blacks would always lose the close ones - John Eales and Totai Kefu haunt me still.
Australian rugby had a winning culture and beating them meant something to New Zealanders.
Getting the Bledisloe Cup back in 2003 felt like the All Blacks had conquered the world.
Talented Australian players like Michael Hooper, Stephen Moore, David Pocock, Will Genia and Adam Ashley-Cooper were making their way through the grades when their country was atop the rugby world.
That type of talent in this era is likely to slip through the cracks, with the likes of the AFL and NRL a much brighter proposition for young oval ball proponents.
Since that 2003 night at Eden Park when Rueben Thorne lifted the Bledisloe Cup, Australia have sunk more often than not.
The decline has been slow and painful, but it has now reached a tipping point.
New Zealand rugby is a hell of a lot more exciting with Australia chomping at our heels and sometimes - not too often, mind - getting the money.
Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship have both become fairly laborious competitions to sit through. We as rugby fans need the Bledisloe Cup to mean something, but at this moment all it means to me is how shit Australia have become.
Brad Lewis is a digital producer for Newshub.
