All I can say is if you can afford to go, then go.
I can't speak for long time Qantas guys, but were I in their position, I think I'd be saying "I'll go when I'm damn well good and ready".
Which is worse, the greed of the old guys who don't want to go, or the ambitious youngsters who will crawl over the heads of their drowning comrades to get the gig?
Greed (if you can call it that, which is debatable) isn't just a vice of the old guys...