There are four rounds of Super Rugby Pacific to go, a Crusaders-Hurricanes thriller still ringing in the ears of every All Black selector, and a sabbatical narrative that is about to settle one of the biggest questions of head coach Dave Rennie's first squad. On this week's Aotearoa Rugby Pod, recorded at Eden Park, hosts Ross Karl and James Parsons - with Brad Hall checking in from Tokyo - sat down to map the contentious positions before the camp reassembles.
The spectre over the entire conversation was the captain. Scott Barrett has been on sabbatical, has not played a meaningful minute in months, and his hosts know better than to dress that up.
"I'm not too sure what Scott Barrett's involvement is going to be within the season," Parsons said. "I know he's on a sabbatical, but I remember Cody Taylor did come back at the back end of his sabbatical a little bit earlier. If you did get a Scott Barrett coming back and they're able to sneak into the six, then they've got all their kind of players that I think are big-time players who can win finals for them."
For Karl, watching Super Rugby form is almost beside the point.
"He hasn't seen any [form], has he? Cuz he hasn't played. I've seen enough of Scott Barrett to know he'll be picked. I've seen some pretty good form over 12 years. He's there. There's no doubting his legacy. It's very rare you've seen him have a different form. I know everyone sort of got into him - it's so different to when Sam Cane became captain, everyone just sort of piles on. But like when you actually look at the output and do an analysis of what he still did, captaincy or not, results dictate people's opinion quite a lot in this country and rightly so."
The Hurricanes' run-and-gun second half against the Crusaders dragged the conversation toward the midfield, and specifically toward Billy Proctor, whose stock has quietly risen again.
"The thing is when you play the Canes is, man, they can punish you quick," Parsons said. "You think about Billy Proctor - the up-and-under and then he gets the offload to Lai - and they're so engaged for the off-the-cuff more than the structure. And that's what makes them so hard to defend, because you can do as much preview as you want, but they see the opportunities live rather than planning them. A big part of that is Billy Proctor."
Where Proctor fits, though, is a problem the panel could not quite solve.
"I feel like people haven't been talking Billy Proctor as much as they did last year. But boy, he's looking good," Parsons added. "It's hard because I don't see a world where Quinn isn't starting and I don't see a world where Jordi isn't starting. The fact that those two are playing so well - it's a sad state of affairs for Billy but really good obviously for the All Blacks and the selectors."
If the midfield log-jam is the headline, the No. 9 jersey behind Cam Roigard is the more pressing tactical question - and Karl had a clear view of who has won the audition.
"Cam Roigard is definitely number one," he said. "I really think Noah Hotham in the last couple of weeks has solidified - whether it be number two or number three, I definitely reckon with the way that he is playing and the game style that he is playing with the Crusaders, it definitely marries up. Being able to shut out a game, game management, his kicking game is a big big part of that Crusaders setup."
Hotham's appeal, the panel agreed, is the part of his game that has historically been the hardest to find in young New Zealand halfbacks.
"You've got to be able to challenge at the rucks and that hard defense, and he's very good in and around," Parsons said. "He hasn't just done it on the weekend. The last couple of weeks he's been a massive influence to be able to get that go-forward ball."
The most revealing endorsement, though, was the one that placed Hotham next to Roigard rather than against him.
"You compare him with Noah Hotham - he's also got that Cam Roigard about him. He just makes the right decision. Previously he hasn't. He's had massive highlights, don't get me wrong, but he butchered some things as well. He's not butchering opportunities and he's also not overplaying his hand."
With four rounds and a finals series still to negotiate, none of this is settled. But the picture from Eden Park this week is that Rennie's squad will be built around a returning captain who has earned the benefit of the doubt, a midfielder being squeezed by exactly the depth the All Blacks need, and a half-back doing the unglamorous work of making himself impossible to leave behind.
