Fiona Coughlan says she would keep Nichola Fryday as Ireland captain despite her decision not to take up one of the new IRFU pro deals.
Coughlan understands why only 10 of the Ireland women's 15s internationals are among the 29 in total who have taken up the contracts for now.
"The contracts probably came quicker than anyone would have thought, obviously the girls in England were contracted prior to confirmation that there would be Irish professional contracts, so they're going to have to wait until next year," said Coughlan.
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"The older players who have full-time jobs and mortgages, it probably just didn't suit them - they weren't able to take that pay cut down to the €30k mark.
"The money offered is kind of in line with England, where I think the max is £32k with match fees and training fees on top of it.
"It will evolve and develop and with more girls coming in at a younger age, they'll certainly take it up quicker. If you think back to when the men's game went pro, very few took them up at the start and it was similarly low money."
The problem the IRFU has is that current Ireland skipper Fryday plus Players' Player of the Year Sam Monaghan and RWI Player of the Year Neve Jones are all contracted to clubs in England.
The 29 who have signed up are training together in Abbotstown this week and, on the question of the captaincy, former skipper turned pundit Coughlan said: "Nichola is probably still the most experienced player that would be available so that’s a big decision for Greg McWilliams to make.
"Personally, I would keep her as captain and get her back training as much as possible in those windows that are still available for internationals to come home. But then I’d certainly look at next year’s contracts and how we entice them back.
"The women's game needs to have contracts that are sustainable, that the IRFU can offer them long term deals as opposed to just one or two years.
"But the women's game needs to grow so that we're selling tickets and broadcast rights and that commercial side grows, and until they do that then the contracts need to stay at the level they're at.
"I know there's problems with the cost of living and things like that but look, you're being given the chance to be a pro athlete, you have to make some tough decisions and it's not going to suit everyone but those people who weren't able to do it, they're still going to be in contention for Irish selection, they're just not going to get the same training load as the other girls."
But the former Ireland star's main concern is that the issue of ripping players away from Six Nations duty has not been addressed - especially given the importance of the 2023 championship in qualifying terms for the new WXV tournament.
"There will be problems going forward and it will be interesting to see going forward if the IRFU focus on the interpros or will they look to one team for that Celtic Cup, and how that will be assembled, so there will be more conversations about that," Coughlan said.
"My biggest thing is still that Sevens-15s divides and what is going to happen in the Six Nations.
"I think the worst thing you can do is play those Sevens players for three games, take them out and put in a whole new backline.
"Whoever's available has to be available for the whole tournament. That's the only way you can develop a team and develop a squad.
"That's still my gripe and I'd be interested to see how that pans out.
"The Six Nations next year is so important for qualification for the WXV, we need to get into that Tier 1 competition so we need to be winning all those away games that we have next year.
"I just don't see how you can take a whole backline away and then replace them, you're better off just going with whoever is available for the 15s game."
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