Rugby: Blues looking towards 2011

Piri Weepu is likely to stay in the capital after turning down an offer from the Blues. Photo / Greg Bowker

If everything goes to plan, 2009 will be considered ground zero for the Blues - the year they were razed to the ground and began a successful rebuilding project.

The Blues' efforts to strengthen their squad has been the enduring story of the year. That's mainly because it is the sub-plot to a far bigger, more troubling story of chronic under-achievement.

On the surface there is nationwide glee that the Blues, with their SUVs, cappuccinos and outrageous property prices are mired in a dark place. Who doesn't love revelling in Auckland's - and by extension the Blues' - misfortune?

Yet, all this apparent joy hides a deeper emotion of real concern that New Zealand rugby will not fulfil its international potential while the Blues continue to wallow in mediocrity.

A strong Blues side is essential - a point chief executive Andy Dalton freely concedes. He's been a vexed figure throughout 2009. He's had sympathy at times for his rookie coach Pat Lam who had to deal with an inordinate number of injuries; while frustration has bubbled away at other periods seeing senior professionals front one week, disappear the next.

Dalton desperately wants to find solutions to all the Blues' various ills. The post season review was extensive and tense with everyone coming under scrutiny. Lam was under pressure to dump his assistant Shane Howarth. In the end, the status quo was maintained although it's expected that the Blues board will keep closer tabs on coaching activity next season.

"We appointed Pat on a three-year contract," says Dalton. "It's a pretty steep learning curve. But Pat has got a much better handle on what is required and is already better prepared. He's miles ahead and now he knows the environment. He has got a year to consolidate and then a year to start performing and he knows that."

If performances are to improve, the Blues need some success with their well-publicised recruitment drive. They haven't had much success. Their most obvious need for new blood is at halfback and first five. Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden and Juan Martin Hernandez were all approached and all declined.

But Dalton is undeterred by the constant rejection and the Blues will persevere. Dalton says there are still irons in many fires and that he's confident that, come the October 16 deadline, the Blues will be able to protect a handy squad of 24 players.

This use of the market is as much about preparing for the expected new landscape of professional rugby as it is trying to assemble a better team for 2010.

When Super 14 becomes Super 15 in 2011, it will also see New Zealand's franchises allowed to recruit players directly. The days of players signing with a provincial contract to determine their Super Rugby franchise will be gone.

"We are gearing up for 2011," says Dalton. "We are starting to see more loan-back arrangements and the landscape is going to change dramatically. It is still a bit of an unknown in terms of detail, though.

"In an ideal world we will have a budget and be in control of it. There will be a lot more focus and a lot more resource allocated to player recruitment and retention. "We will have to have a good view of local players but the big change is that we will all be looking nationwide."

Dalton says he's also comfortable taking on a limited amount of overseas recruitment from 2011. With Argentina poised to enter the Tri Nations in 2012, New Zealand's franchises may well be encouraged to contract small numbers of Pumas and possibly players from other Sanzar nations.

The only danger Dalton can see is that the traffic might flow more heavily in the wrong direction. His intelligence is that the South Africans pay more for top talent than New Zealand.

Still, with 50,000 seats to fill at Eden Park from 2012, he knows that the game here needs some mystery and intrigue. It needs star quality and it needs a successful Blues side.

"Next year we will have a capacity at Eden Park of about 17,000," says Dalton. "That means we will only have about 5000 tickets to sell to the public."