“The big part for this year is to win and evolve, so we can win in two to three different ways,” he said.
“That’s the key to bringing success over a four-year period.”
When he said that, he no doubt had in mind that one tactical blueprint will be to build a high-tempo, high-skilled attack game that utilises the speed and natural instincts of Jordan from fullback.
That option hasn’t gone entirely, but it’s going to be hard for Jordan to recover his best form once he returns from shoulder surgery later in the year, and the All Blacks are going to need someone else at fullback for the July tests and Rugby Championship.
Shaun Stevenson has his admirers, but his defence remains a concern.
Ruben Love is an emerging talent but inexperienced, and Zarn Sullivan has a fantastic left boot but hasn’t yet shown an ability to shred defensive lines from the backfield.
The cupboard is by no means bare, but the emerging prospects are maybe a year or so from being test ready, and while Barrett may not ultimately prove to be the first-choice fullback for the next four years, he certainly feels like he’ll be the right choice in 2024.
If the brief is to be versatile, then Barrett best fits it. He’s a runner, he’s a kicker, he’s a visionary, and what’s possibly least appreciated, he’s a defensive rock, both in his ability to get under the high ball and be a last line of defence.
However Robertson wants his All Blacks to play this year, Barrett, as a fullback who is equally comfortable stepping in at first receiver, will be able to facilitate the chosen style.
Not everyone will find that easy to comprehend, though, because only four months ago, Barrett was considered lost to the system.
He had not publicly signalled his long-term career plan ahead of the World Cup final, other than to confirm he would be playing in Japan in 2024 with an option to stay there in 2025.
The assumption was that Barrett, who turns 33 this May, would take that option to stay at Toyota Verblitz and call time on what has been an extraordinary All Blacks career.
He’d been playing test rugby since 2012 and most - nearly all - members of his peer group have called it quits.
But what was perhaps missed by everyone is how much the fire to play at the highest level burns inside Barrett.
He’s still got the internal drive and mental desire to push himself as hard at 32 as he did when he was 20, and for older athletes, motivation is everything.
There’s a misconception that age and physical decline are directly linked, but they’re not.
What derails an older player is a lack of mental drive to get through the required volume of training and commit to the recovery protocols that become increasingly important.
The legs don’t suddenly give up, and the evidence is all there to show that those players who retain a hunger to play at the highest level can do so right up to their late 30s.
It may take them to longer recover after a game, and they may have to adapt their training regimes, manage their on-field minutes and curtail any harder living aspects of their younger lifestyle, but if they do all that because they are willing to do all that, then age is not the barrier to winning test caps that many think it is.
No doubt, the way things ended in Paris last year provided Barrett with a litmus test of his desire.
The 12-11 loss left him with a sense of disappointment – one he obviously felt would linger and fester if the World Cup final were to be his last test match, and on the strength of that, he decided to commit himself to New Zealand for another four years.
Now Jordan’s bad luck looks like it will have a fortuitous side for Barrett, and it may be some time yet before he commits his last act in test rugby.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.
