KEY POINTS:
Assistant coach Steve Hansen may leave the All Blacks later this season to head up the victorious Crusaders franchise.
Hansen is considering that tactic as a way of boosting his own coaching portfolio before aiming his sights on the top job once the 2011 World Cup has finished in New Zealand.
With rivals like Robbie Deans and Warren Gatland now coaching offshore and Graham Henry in charge until at least the end of 2009 and probably through to the World Cup, Hansen has figured he needs and has room to make his own mark otherwise he will also be siphoned off after the next global tournament.
The politicking has already started with a Hansen-for-coach campaign already gaining some momentum in Canterbury after longtime coach Robbie Deans left having endorsed his deputy Mark Hammett as successor.
Under the latest proposal, Hansen would head up the franchise and carry former Crusaders captain Todd Blackadder as his deputy with the chance of Aussie McLean returning in some assistant capacity.
These proposals have been gaining traction with coaching interviews for the Crusaders due soon and the successful candidates to be announced before the August start of the Air New Zealand Cup. The All Blacks have four more tests after that before they get a break and then embark on another Grand Slam quest in November.
If Hansen applies and is accepted as the Crusaders' boss, he may leave the All Blacks environment before the six-match end of year tour to concentrate on sorting out his Super 14 duties.
It is understood that Blackadder, along with Hammett, intended pitching for the Crusaders' head coaching job but that Blackadder has been approached to consider running as Hansen's deputy. Blackadder feels as though he is ready to step up to the top job but with his Tasman union struggling, can also see the advantage of linking up with Hansen for the next few years.
That coaching mix of Hansen and Blackadder would also help appease any political opposition there may still be in the region to the assistant All Black coach.
Hansen's coaching career with Canterbury included NPC victories in 1997 and 2001 while he served as assistant coach with the Crusaders when they won the Super rugby titles in 2000 and 2001. From there he succeeded Graham Henry as coach of Wales in 2002 and 2003 before linking up with Henry and Wayne Smith as All Black assistant coach in 2004.
That association survived the calamities of the World Cup year to be reappointed to a two-year All Black term while Deans and Gatland, who were the strongest challengers, took up alternative roles as head coaches with the Wallabies and Wales.
With those rivals out of the picture and little sign of other strong contenders before the next World Cup, it is understood Hansen is thinking about splitting from the All Blacks to create his own coaching credentials before the next 2011 appointment. He probably reckons that the All Blacks will continue to have a high success rate in the next few years and that he is better off getting hands-on experience as Henry continues.
Hansen has long had a strong political ally in New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew and probably believes he would be a strong chance to replace Henry if the All Blacks fell into the same sort of difficulties they last encountered in 1998.
