They say you should appreciate what you have while you still have it because one day you won't.
You could hardly accuse Wales fans of taking for granted Warren Gatland or Shaun Edwards given the mass outpouring from the Welsh public following the latest Grand Slam triumph.
It could even be argued the public's pining for Edwards led the Welsh Rugby Union to try shoehorning him into Wayne Pivac's coaching regime when it was never really the best thing for either party.
And then we come to Rob Howley and Robin McBryde.
Rightly or wrongly, there has been no such clamouring from Welsh rugby fans for the pair to stay.
Far from it.
Sections of the Welsh rugby public have never been overly kind to McBryde or Howley. You could even describe the latter's treatment as cruel on occasions.
Their contribution is downplayed to that of mere bystanders in a remarkable era of success. It is the ultimate form of denigration to two men who have actually given so much.
So perhaps it is little surprise McBryde won't be staying in Wales after the World Cup, with Howley looking likely to follow him out of the country.
McBryde has been confirmed as Leinster's new assistant coach , while Howley is reportedly in talks with Munster to take over as attack coach at the Limerick province.
Warren Gatland's views on Welsh rugby losing people of such calibre are certainly clear.
Look, I'm not saying the union should have tried kept Howley or McBryde in the national setup, but there is a job going in Newport that one or both of the duo might have brought some experience to.
However, it looks likely that both Howley and McBryde will be lost to Ireland rather than taking up the Dragons head coach role. If neither of them wanted the big job at the WRU-owned Dragons then that is somewhat telling in itself.
The Gwent region look likely to turn to Dean Ryan instead. His coaching record hints at a decent operator who hasn't always been able to hold onto a dressing room for too long.
I'd be wary of talking down a coaching appointment before it's even been made, but it's hard to fathom why the Dragons would look outside of Wales if there are two Welsh coaches with 11 years each of international rugby experience who just happen to be available.
The suggestion then is perhaps they didn't want it. And the question that brings is why can't Welsh rugby convince two of their most distinguished coaches to take it?
A lack of public clamour hardly helps.
When there was a glimmer of hope that defensive guru Edwards would stay, it felt as though Welsh rugby supporters would barricade all roads out of the country to keep the Wigan man here.
Yet they seem eerily content to lose Howley and McBryde once their time with the national team is done.
Maybe the pair had grown weary of some of the vitriol being thrown their way and are keen for a fresh challenge. If so, the WRU might not have been able to convince them otherwise to stay.
But Welsh rugby and the regions would be healthier with them than without. Look at how the national team overachieved in a period when the regions largely faltered in their time as Wales coaches.
It's galling how none of the brains at the helm of that successful side will be retained to feed back their years of experience and "intellectual property", as Gatland puts it, into the regions.
They have been involved in three Grand Slams, a fourth Six Nations title, and a World Cup semi-final with Wales.
Howley has coached on three Lions tours - winning one in Australia, drawing another improbably in New Zealand and losing a series in South Africa that ultimately redeemed a great rugby tradition following the 2005 debacle in New Zealand and dragged the Lions tours into the ultra-professional era.
They are CVs most could only dream of, and they will soon be lost to Welsh rugby.
Leinster, Munster and Irish rugby can recognise the worth of Howley and McBryde - yet many fans can't.
The lack of big job opportunities in Wales for Welsh coaches presumably made holding onto the pair that much harder too.
With Ryan's appointment looming, the fact is the region's head coaches for next season are looking awfully like the setup to a bad joke.
An Englishman, an Australian and a New Zealander.
Now, that's not to to say foreign coaches have done nothing for us in Welsh rugby. Messrs Gatland and Pivac prove otherwise.
But it's likely that we'll have another season without a Welsh coach in charge of a Welsh region.
With respect to the Dragons, the head jobs at the more attractive regions are all taken.
Given they seem likely to end up in backroom roles once more in Ireland, perhaps the role of scrum coach at the Scarlets or attack coach at Cardiff Blues would have tempted them to stay? Perhaps not.
That Welsh rugby couldn't keep them in some form is a great loss, but the bigger risk is repeating the process.
The wider problem is that opportunities for Welsh coaches are few and far between.
If Howley and McBryde weren't interested in a role at the Dragons or any other region for that matter, the next cab of the rank is probably from someone outside of Wales.
There's a slew of younger Welsh coaches in and around the regions and in the Welsh Premiership - people like Jason Strange, Ioan Cunningham and Richie Rees at the regions and then someone like Steve Law at Cardiff RFC.
The question is, however, will they get their big chance?
The lack of big job opportunities for Welsh coaches in Wales is telling.
There's a tendency in Wales to value our own less than others - to the extent that two men who coached Test rugby for over a decade aren't even considered worthy of a regional job in the eyes of some fans.
If that's the case, what hope have other aspiring Welsh coaches got then?
