Chris Rattue: Past deeds no way to design future deal

Read all about it - Richie McCaw will stay in New Zealand on a long-term deal.

News is apparently due today about the All Black captain's new NZRU contract, and he'll get the royal treatment he deserves.

But whether that should be a cast-iron four-year deal is another matter. I'd be very surprised if it is.

If he is locked in for that long, then the timing is wrong for a 30-plus forward and a financially challenged NZRU.

Don't get me wrong. McCaw deserves a decent slice of whatever is left of the NZRU's dwindling pie. You won't find a bigger R. McCaw fan than here.

He is probably the greatest All Black I've seen by a whisker over Dan Carter and Sean Fitzpatrick, although that exercise is a very subjective business.

The trouble is, contracts should be based on future prospects, not past deeds.

There are clear signs that the injury and headache-plagued McCaw is not exactly on the upside of his career.

McCaw has been a giant of the game, the standard bearer, the best forward in world rugby, the undisputed leader of the pack and at the heart of the Crusaders' super Super success.

He's been the major factor in the All Blacks remaining at the top of the rugby tree, give or take a couple of World Cups.

By world sporting standards, McCaw has been on minimum wages even if he doesn't have to worry too much about finding the readies for the power bill.

But McCaw is at the rugby coal face, and this is not a place of great longevity.

Aussie openside George Smith, another terrific rugby warrior, quit the Wallabies before his 30th birthday after years of brilliant work in the trenches.

He saw the writing on the wall, upon which Wallaby coach Robbie Deans had scribbled the name David Pocock.

Even Pocock and that other top class "fetcher", the Springbok Heinrich Brussow, are forever in the casualty ward, and they are pups compared to the warhorse McCaw.

Rodney So'oialo has also smashed himself into oblivion.

McCaw is superman, but everyone meets their kryptonite.

The chances are that we've seen the best of this legendary footballer.

McCaw is unlikely to be this country's top No 7 come the 2015 world tournament, when he will be approaching 35. This year's World Cup is likely his last.

There's no way his battered body will fend off the tyros, led by his Canterbury teammate Matt Todd. No one has got close to matching McCaw, but New Zealand produces brilliant loose forwards. Someone will come along.

McCaw made a lively if error-prone return last weekend after a layoff due to a foot injury and recurring headaches. He is cautious on the headache front, in contrast to the cavalier attitude of other sportsmen on this issue.

Should the headaches persist, there must be a chance he will quit playing.

And any overseas sabbaticals, if the contract includes them, would add to the wear and tear. Until McCaw gets back into the swing of things, doubts remain about whether he will be fully firing for this year's World Cup.

It will be interesting to see if there are conditions and escape clauses, and even if there aren't, sports contracts are made to be broken. Just ask Sonny Bill.

The deal will be trumpeted as a triumph, but McCaw's days at the very top are almost certainly numbered because of the battering the modern day loose forward must endure.

DEAL FOR SONNY BILL

Now there's a surprise. Crusaders' coach Todd Blackadder wants the NZRU to front up with a Dan Carter-style super deal for Sonny Bill Williams.

Blackadder is right of course. The NZRU must do everything within its power to keep SBW, whose profile alone is worth whatever they have to pay him. He has revolutionised the game, to a degree, with his offloading, but even more so as a magnet beyond compare for public appeal. But the lopsided contract situation is getting out of hand.

How can the NZRU look its other franchises in the face if they load up all their favours in one team? Surely other veteran players and drawcards should be offered similar flexibility.

Blackadder can say he's got the game's best interests at heart of course. What a happy coincidence that they also coincide with his own best interests.

WORLD CUP PLAN SCARY

Time to be afraid, very afraid. Reports revealed that an All Black leadership group holed up in a hotel recently - or, as a headline put it, 'senior All Blacks plan World Cup victory'.

EEEEEEEK. All this heavy thinking is scary. What on earth did they talk about - whether to go swimming at Mission Bay or Takapuna perhaps.

Most disconcertingly, the Super Seven vowed to "correct mistakes" made at the last World Cup.

The last World Cup has been and gone troops - any mistakes made then will be completely irrelevant to what occurs this time around. Manager Darren Shand does deserve a pat on the back for admitting "you can get into that space where you just deny it happened and avoid it instead of taking responsibility for it".

Maybe they could mail the statement to Wayne Barnes. The whole thing sounds dangerously cosy.

I'd love to know what inner sanctum member Andrew Hore really thinks about these meetings. He's never struck me as one of life's over-thinkers.

INU LEAVES 'EM GASPING

I've joined the Krisnan Inu fan club. The Warriors wing is as daft as a brush.

But you've got to love a rare character in modern sport, where statisticians obsess over error rates. (My pet hate in league at the moment is the phrase 'completion rate' ... booooooring).

Inu goes against the trend by sprinkling his magical game with goofy gaffes. You won't see anything more stupid than his last gasp sidestep and surge up the touchline against South Sydney, when the Warriors had the game won with only seconds remaining.

Even with the touchline fast approaching, he made no discernable move infield, and Souths were gifted a late chance they bungled.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary might have had a flashback to Michael Witt holding the ball aloft before plonking it down for a try in the big win over Melbourne a few years ago.

Inu is having an excellent-slash-erratic season after being left out of the lineup initially. His ability under cross field bombs is a big plus for the Warriors.

But you can also see why Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney steered clear of Inu this year.