The young fans hugging and high-fiving him at training in West Auckland yesterday had no doubt - Daniel Carter is the man to get the All Blacks back on the winning track.
First-five Carter, attending his first All Black training camp this year, was mobbed by excited Sunderland College schoolchildrenthrilled to see their hero at a public training session at the Trusts Stadium in Henderson.
Many fans believe Carter should be rushed straight back into the starting lineup for the second Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup match against Australia in Sydney next week - and Carter is ready to accept the challenge.
But he will have to survive an NPC exam tomorrow night against Waikato before the national team is finalised in Sydney next week.
"It's really exciting. I feel I am ready to play at international level again," he said yesterday.
"This is what you work so hard to get to, to get back to this environment, to see familiar faces, coaching staff and a couple of new faces, so it is a lot of fun."
Carter felt ready to play rugby four or five months after he tore his Achilles tendon but knew he would not be at optimum fitness for a while after that.
So he made sure he did not resume until he was comfortable doing so.
He felt more settled after a couple of games for Canterbury but did not want to raise his expectations about returning to the All Black scene.
However, he was not tempted to bypass Sydney to get in more NPC matches before putting his name forward for test selection.
"I was pretty comfortable either way but this is the way it turned out," Carter said.
"I was comfortable with my Harbour game and my Auckland game and obviously another tough challenge from Waikato this weekend.
"Three tough games - so I think that puts me in good stead."
