"There are some really experienced players that I can lean on and get advice from when needed. It's been great so far having someone like Kieran there, having someone to bounce ideas off."
Whitelock has always had the reputation of being an intelligent player, but it's his instinctive decision-making this season which has really set him apart.
The Crusaders, unbeaten this season after 13 matches and with another tough assignment to come tomorrow against the Highlanders in Christchurch, did not have it easy at the start of their campaign.
They had to hold off the fast-finishing Brumbies in round one before mounting three extraordinary comebacks in consecutive weeks against the Highlanders, Reds and Blues.
Underpinning it all has been the calm and authoritative leadership of Whitelock and his uncanny knack of making the right decisions at the right times, and often that has involved going for an attacking lineout or scrum rather than taking the potential three points on offer.
He has the ability to sense vulnerability in the opposition, a feel for the game which can't be taught and which has proven to be a godsend for Robertson in his first season as coach at this level.
No matter the apparent urgency of the situation - especially in those potentially fraught early-season matches - Whitelock has appeared serene, and the man who recently re-signed with the All Blacks and Crusaders until the end of 2020 might just have put himself in the frame as Read's potential deputy for the national team.
Read, his appearances limited by that wrist injury and now a broken thumb which he believes will come right in time to allow him to play in the first test against the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park on June 24, has had a big part to play in Whitelock's leadership but is also impressed with how it has developed.
"He's been great for the team," Read said. "Sam, I wouldn't call him simple, but he's a straightforward character. He'll tell it like it is and really demand a lot from the boys and he's doing it in a great way this year. We've got a lot of young boys so he's keeping them in a positive frame of mind as well.
"I'm still involved pretty heavily in the leadership side of things there and we're good mates so we yarn generally most days about stuff. If I see something I'll have a quiet word to him so he can implement it. It's a good partnership and it works well."
Many Crusaders supporters, desperate for their team to win another title after a nine-year drought, will have been studying the Super Rugby points table as they plot the playoffs equation, but Whitelock said he and his players had steered clear of that, preferring to put their trust in performing well and letting the results take car of themselves.
The international break after this weekend would possibly allow the Crusaders more time to reflect, but their match against the Lions at AMI Stadium next Saturday was another priority, he said.
"A number of the boys in the squad would like to think they will carry on and play against them in the All Blacks' set up," Whitelock said. "But to get a go at them beforehand is pretty awesome. To play against some of the best players in the world a number of times is great and for some guys [in the Crusaders], that might be their only chance to do it and they're keen to put their best foot forward and give it a real good go."
