But it won't be, not for some in that rejected group, anyway. What we know is that often the more compelling stories around All Blacks World Cup selections come from within the rejected group.
Too readily those who miss out are written off as finished or not quite up to it. But for some in that disappointed group, missing out won't be the end. It will, instead, be the beginning proper of their All Blacks career: the moment they understood the single-mindedness required to be part of a World Cup campaign and vow to bounce back to make it to France in 2023.
It's fascinating to ponder who of the 41 players selected for the All Blacks' foundation day on Monday will miss the cut in 2019 but yet find it within themselves to still be here in four years, tougher, better, more polished and an integral part of it all.
It will be for some, probably most of the rejected group, the toughest break of their sporting careers.
Nothing stings quite like rejection — of being told there is someone better. A blow like that can set even the mildest temperament into a pique of rage, before settling into bitterness.
And it's when players have those emotions swirling inside them — tormenting their sleep, distorting their emotional equilibrium — that their true selves are discovered.
This is when things will become interesting — seeing who can pick themselves up and rebuild the dream and who sulks their way to an offshore contract.
Some will accept that adversity is not something to be feared or viewed as a career-stopper but an almost inevitable part of trying to be an All Black.
Some will never get over being left out and these are the players the All Blacks needn't lose any sleep over.
They will play like they are owed something, becoming the rugby equivalent of Rod Tidwell — the "show me the money" star of Jerry Maguire whose sense of entitlement outweighed any intrinsic desire.
These are not men equipped with the necessary character and resolve to be great All Blacks.
It will become apparent in Super Rugby 2020, however, that some of the rejected crew will have found it within themselves to work harder and give more.
Some will play with a controlled fury, taking their game to new levels and these are the players who will interest the All Blacks selectors.
These are the players who will set themselves apart and prove they have the selflessness and depth of commitment to storm the 2023 tournament and write themselves into history.
The All Blacks, who always have a supply-demand imbalance of personnel at World Cups, have seen rejection make more players than it has break them.
They have seen World Cup rejection act as an emotional furnace and bring the best out of players who perhaps needed something to refocus them.
Look at Ma'a Nonu — he may never have become the best No12 in All Blacks history had he not been left out of the 2007 World Cup squad.
He came so close to packing it in when he was omitted from the squad that went to France.
The Wests Tigers virtually had him. The contract was in his hands. He was angry and disillusioned and a fresh challenge in the NRL appealed.
But he was persuaded to take a week to cool off, to really think what he wanted out of his career and his heart told him, when he really listened to it, that he wanted to prove the All Blacks selectors wrong and fight for his place.
Between 2008 and 2015, Nonu was the best second-five in world rugby, won two World Cups and never left anyone in any doubt that his commitment was total.
In 2011, it was Liam Messam who felt most deeply the selection blade slide inside him.
He had played at No8 against the Springboks in Port Elizabeth and was told shortly after that Victor Vito, who had replaced him during that game, was going to take his place in the World Cup squad.
Messam had to travel back to Auckland alone, while the rest of the squad headed to Brisbane for the World Cup announcement and then a test against the Wallabies.
As Messam was in transit, he saw the World Cup squad members the All Blacks hadn't taken to South Africa make their way through Brisbane airport — all smiles and excitement in the knowledge they had made the cut.
It could have broken him. Instead, he delivered a sensational Super Rugby campaign with the title-winning Chiefs, earned a late test recall and played the house down through to 2015. He went to England and won the World Cup medal he was denied four years earlier.
Last time around, it was Israel Dagg who was the highest-profile casualty. The man who set the 2011 tournament on fire couldn't win a place in 2015 and he, in the weeks after rejection, contemplated leaving New Zealand.
He was angry and hurt but decided he didn't want to be the sort of player who ran from adversity. He let rejection redirect him, and in 2016, he rediscovered his love for the game and trusted his instincts to the extent he was a must-pick for the All Blacks.
He was a different player and probably would still be that same enigmatic, intuitive, brilliant operator locked into the All Blacks No14 jersey were it not for the degenerative knee condition that forced him to retire last week.
So the selection of 41 players for an All Blacks foundation day on Monday merely highlights it requires an extraordinary combination of physical skills and mental resolve to hold a place in the national team.
It has also flagged early that whichever way the selectors go, there will be some extraordinarily good players left out and potentially the All Blacks will, inadvertently, be laying the foundations for their 2023 campaign in the process of picking their 2019 squad.
