The Australian Rugby Union is plotting the biggest overhaul of its disciplinary process since the game turned professional, and guess which rival code it has looked to for inspiration?

Rugby league.

That's right. The ARU believes the balance of power on disciplinary issues has shifted too far into the hands of the well-organised Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) and wants to make a significant correction, turning to a rival code with, let's face it, plenty of experience with misbehaving footballers, for inspiration.

The two parties traded draft documents last year and – not surprisingly – there was daylight between them.

They agree on one thing. The present code of conduct, which covers every player from grassroots to elite rugby, is a cumbersome catch-all that often leads to disciplinary issues – and ugly headlines – being dragged out for weeks on end. Think the Kurtley Beale texting scandal last year, or Quade Cooper's "toxic" episode in 2012. No one emerged unscarred from either saga, least of all the game of rugby.

But that's where the agreement ends.

RUPA's proposal, drafted last April after former Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie went off-grid with his disciplining of 15 players on the Wallabies' spring tour in 2013, breaks down the broad charge of "bringing the game into disrepute" and spells out a range of offences and potential penalties, giving administrators a road map of sorts to follow when players say or do stupid, offensive or illegal things.

The ARU's document is a radical departure from the present system and effectively works on an assumption of guilt until innocence can be proven. It was sent to RUPA nine months later, in January, and is modelled on the NRL's code of conduct. It would give the ARU the power to name its price and penalty when a player transgresses, and gives the player only the right to appeal the sanction.

Not surprisingly, the ARU's draft arrived at RUPA's door very soon after Beale was fined $45,000 for sending an offensive text message to former Wallabies business manager Di Patston. ARU boss Bill Pulver pushed strongly for contract termination but the case fell apart in front of an independent tribunal – a condition guaranteed under the present code of conduct but endangered under the model being proposed by the ARU.

It is a case of paperwork at 10 paces right now for the powerful players' association and the ARU, with RUPA unlikely to agree to what it perceives as a serious erosion of players' rights.

But two recent cases suggest there is a rare appetite for compromise in Australian rugby. The handling of the Karmichael Hunt affair – in which the Queensland Rugby Union, ARU and RUPA worked behind closed doors to agree on a six-week ban and $30,000 fine – is worlds away from the trench warfare of the Beale-Patston scandal. That ugly episode culminated in the resignation of a Wallabies coach and is now poised to drag the ARU through the courts.

This week's swift and fair response to Jacques Potgieter's use of a homophobic slur during the Waratahs' win over the Brumbies is another example of what can happen when the relevant parties are prepared to collaborate. It is no surprise that it was brokered on one side by former RUPA boss Greg Harris, newly arrived as chief executive at the Waratahs. But it equally highlighted the arrival of pragmatism at the ARU and a willingness to think holistically about what is fair, what is right and what is good for the game.

Skipper in Tahs' sights

Forget Izzy and Kurtley, NSW captain Dave Dennis has become the Waratahs' No.1 retention target after receiving a lucrative offer to join an English Premiership club next season.

Dennis is in abrasive form this season after making a return from a third knee reconstruction that ruled him out of his team's finals campaign last year, and his versatility as a back or second rower has made him an attractive buy.

The Waratahs are confident they will retain their popular captain for at least the next season, and while Dennis is conscious of having limited time left to make a move offshore, he also wants to make sure the club transitions as smoothly as possible when Michael Cheika and a host of veteran players exit stage left at the end of this season.

He is expected to make a final decision on his future next week.

Wallabies love-in

Don't get too caught up in who is and isn't sitting around the campfire with Michael Cheika at his first official Wallabies gathering on Sunday.

The Wallabies coach is the master of "incentivising" and will have thought very hard – strategically, you could say – about who he invites and who is given the cold shoulder.

So while Lopeti Timani, Adam Coleman and Rory Arnold will miss out this time around, Cheika's measured public praise of all three in recent weeks is a better indication of his intentions. Likewise with Nick Frisby in Queensland. Cheika went out of his way to praise the Reds halfback after he endured a difficult spell at No.10 in recent weeks. No surprise that he was invited before Rebels halfbacks Nic Stirzaker and Luke Burgess.

Wise move

One-time Waratahs coaching candidate Scott Wisemantel will move as planned to Montpellier next year after seeing out a one-year deal at Lyon.

Wisemantel will take over at Lyon alongside forwards coach Olivier Azam after fellow Australian Tim Lane was sacked last week.

The former Waratahs assistant had been asked to apply for the top job at NSW but pulled out after being offered a gig with Jake White at Montpellier, where Brumbies halfback Nic White will join former teammate Ben Mowen.