COMMENT: New Zealand Rugby will ultimately win the war to keep Beauden Barrett, Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick until the 2023 World Cup but a few battles could be lost in the process.
Of more concern is that the iron grip NZR has enjoyed on its best players is weakeningand the realisation is dawning that the Sanzaar alliance may have inadvertently made Frankenstein's monster in supporting the growth of Japanese rugby.
France and its nonsensical, ego-driven, vanity-led player purchasing and England's marquee signing option will continue to pick off New Zealand's players.
But it is Japan which has become the market of choice for the elite and Japan where most likely the best All Blacks of the next decade will spend at least one or two seasons of their careers.
It is almost inevitable that as Japanese rugby grows and the relationship with New Zealand becomes closer, a sabbatical option in Asia will be built in to most long-serving All Blacks' contracts.
If Japan was the unknown frontier five years ago, it is no longer. In the past, it has been a playing destination only for the more intrepid Kiwi professionals - a land of magical mystery, but also a land with a language barrier and cultural and culinary differences making it too foreboding a challenge to settle there for those with wives and children.
But increased exposure to Japan through the Sunwolves' entry to Super Rugby and the All Blacks' decision to play tests in Tokyo in 2009 and 2013 has seen some of the fear of the unknown reside.
Many of the All Blacks have also been to Japan on commercial duty and an increasing number of players lower down the ranks have made the move, feeding into the grapevine that it is the adventure of a lifetime.
All Blacks work out during their training session in Tokyo. Photo / AP
With the All Blacks spending two weeks in Tokyo this year and maybe up to eight next year at the World Cup, the fear is genuine that there will be a mass awakening among the squad that Japan offers the holy trinity of huge pay deals, incredible player welfare and an overseas experience like no other.
If it was just about huge pay deals, NZR wouldn't be so worried. A minority of players are in it for the money, but most are about the memories and achievements and take a holistic view about their careers which places enormous value on being able to play test football.
If Japan was a market that flogged the players to breaking point, again NZR wouldn't be so worried.
European club rugby's never-ending season and notorious sense of entitlement to overwork players is the very thing that prevents an exodus.
There is widespread acceptance among players in New Zealand that European club rugby may pay well, but it takes its pound of flesh in the process.
But Japan, with its shorter season and less physically intense games, is the sort of place that can rejuvenate and invigorate the battered Whitelock and Retallick.
It's the sort of place where they could spend a year and come back in better condition than when they arrived, as was the case with Jerome Kaino.
So there is now a resigned acceptance that to keep Whitelock, Barrett and Retallick in New Zealand for another four years, there is going to have to be a compromise somewhere in each of their contracts.
The sticking point will be that NZR can't sign off on Whitelock and Retallick being unavailable to the All Blacks at the same time.
They can't allow their two best locks - and arguably the best partnership in the world - to be in Japan together, as it would stretch the national team too far.
The depth at lock isn't quite there and the All Blacks would be dangerously exposed if Whitelock and Retallick were not available for a season.
The former, who is starting to show signs of the long, hard season he's had so far, will most likely make a late start to the next Super Rugby campaign so he can have an extended pre-season in World Cup year.
He's also going to have to consider what a playing sabbatical might do to his chance of being the next All Blacks captain.
Richie McCaw had a sabbatical in 2013 but it was a non-playing kind to give him the mental break he needed to push through to 2015.
He missed only three tests that year and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was happy to sign off on the deal as it meant he could give Kieran Read - the next captain-elect - a mini-run at the helm.
But it might not be an acceptable compromise to allow Whitelock a season in Japan if he does assume the captaincy after the 2019 World Cup.
