It's not quite reaching the point where you set your watch by Wales losing World Cup training squad members, but we're not far off that.
After Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones announced their Test retirements on the same day, Rhys Webb decided to call time on his international career this week.
Rhys Carre's World Cup hopes now appear over, after a brutal Welsh Rugby Union statement confirmed that the Cardiff prop had been released from Warren Gatland's squad after he "failed to meet individual performance targets set at the end of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations”.
READ MORE: Rhys Carre released from Wales World Cup training squad as blunt statement issued
Now, there are two things to analyse here. The decision and the way it was released to the public.
Starting with the decision, it's understood that Carre was given a number of targets, including losing a number of kilograms, before meeting up for the first day of Wales' mini-camp on May 25.
Carre and Gatland are believed to have held an honest conversation prior to the squad meeting up, in which the loose-head told the Wales coach that he had not met the target given to him.
That conversation would have happened at least a week ago, with Carre having not been in Wales camp last week.
There is a suggestion that the target was needlessly unfair, with one argument being that Carre would have had to train hard in his off-season break when others were switching off ahead of a brutal summer of World Cup preparation.
Carre had arrived in the 2019 World Cup training camp carrying, in the player's own words, a "bit of extra timber" before being worked hard during the training camps in Switzerland and Turkey. One source questioned why Gatland wouldn't want to follow that same blueprint again.
Of course, Carre was 21 at the last World Cup. There's perhaps more willingness from coaches to spend time on a player's fitness at a younger age.
And, unfortunately, Carre's weight has been a point of contention within the national set-up before now. After the tour of South Africa, the prop was given a set of targets by Wales management ahead of last autumn.
One of those was to shed 12kg. When he wasn't selected for the autumn campaign, then-Wales coach Wayne Pivac alluded to conditioning issues before Cardiff's director of rugby Dai Young said it was a weight target that was behind his omission.
Certainly, it wasn't his on-field actions - with Carre continually putting in eye-catching performances. Instead, it would appear that weight is an area of focus for Wales.
Wyn Jones started the last Six Nations game against France after a bumpy couple of years in and out of the side, but was nowhere to be seen in the 54-man training squad. His fitness is believed to be a factor.
When it comes to Carre, the discussion around his fitness is one that has frustrated the 25-year-old.
He told RugbyPass earlier this year: "I’ve had a lot of discussions and arguments over the years about my weight and sometimes it’s really got me down, focusing on how much I weigh in the morning. There was a period when it felt that that was everyone’s focus; what the scales say in the morning rather than what I do for the rest of the day. I tried to put that to one side and focus on what I was doing on the pitch.
"I understand and agree that sometimes I’m not the fittest. I’m not the most 'repeatable' prop out there, but what I do is effective and if I can do that a couple more times a game, then in a year or two when I get into my prime, I’m going to benefit massively from that."
Despite that attitude, Gatland and his coaching ticket would now appear to be of the same opinion as Pivac. Of course, Jonathan Humphreys has worked as forwards coach under both so it's not as if it's an entirely new coaching set-up forming the same opinion.
Gatland saw fit to recall Carre for the Six Nations. Now, though, he's been released 99 days before the start of the World Cup without even doing a single training session. At a time when Wales desperately need big carriers, it's a big call to make.
More than one source has noted that France wouldn't be trying to bring down Uini Atonio's weight, while the Springboks wouldn't be dropping props in an effort to shed pounds.
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Maybe it's an attempt to create some sense of accountability or a no-nonsense environment, but there's always the chance it backfires.
Which brings us onto the manner in which the news was announced.
For starters, the graphic design of the statement posted on social media - with the WRU having a set template for graphics that draws upon vintage posters of the French riviera and the Eiffel Tower - was at odds with the blunt nature of the message.
“Rhys Carre has been released from the Wales senior men’s preliminary training squad for Rugby World Cup 2023," the statement read.
“Following ongoing discussions between the player and the Wales coaching team, Carre has failed to meet individual performance targets set at the end of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations.”
To say it didn't go down well with lots of Welsh rugby fans would be something of an understatement. When there's still plenty of work to be done around mental health not being a taboo subject, many have taken issue with a press release that so plainly laid the blame at Carre's door.
There's already enough talk of an unhappy camp with Wales recently. After a tumultuous Six Nations that felt like it would never end, any hope of an improvement in morale seems unlikely after the raft of early retirements.
While there were a number of reasons for each of them, at least one came down to being done with Wales camp. One player who has recently been involved described it to WalesOnline as 'groundhog day'.
It's questionable whether this statement will improve matters much on that front.
What was once 54 is now 50. Prior to the Switzerland training camp, Gatland's plan was to cut the squad down to 45.
A cynic would suggest you'll soon need call-ups to reach that figure.
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