Gregor Paul: Liam Squire could revive - or end - Jerome Kaino's All Blacks career

Jerome Kaino must prove that he's still capable of world class performances. Photo / Photosport

The future of Jerome Kaino has been a hot topic in the last 10 days.

Not picked in the starting team for the Sydney clash and then forced to fly home on the morning of the game to deal with a personal issue that has prevented him from being in Dunedin, the veteran flanker would appear now to be a significant crossroads.

Standing with him is Liam Squire, who is likely to have considerably more impact than any tabloid claims in determining which direction Kaino's career will travel.

This point of Squire moving neck-and-neck with Kaino was always going to be reached.

The All Blacks were always going to have to start looking at other blindside options.

Kaino recently turned 34, he's in great shape, seems to be as physically capable now as he was five years ago.

But there is a reality to life at this level and it's that no one can be certain for how much longer he can sustain his form.

He'll be 36 by the time the next World Cup kicks off and there haven't been many loose forwards that age who have held starting spots in major teams.

The All Blacks have to be sensible and realistic and build another No 6.

What Kaino hoped and what most people probably thought was that the All Blacks would work on their Plan B in the background and not so much until the latter part of the year.

Effectively, the expectation was that Kaino would start most of the Rugby Championship games with Squire making cameos off the bench.

Instead, the selectors have surprised - those outside the squad at least - by putting Squire into the foreground.

His time has arrived sooner and more dramatically than imagined and whether that has come as a shock to Kaino or not, the veteran needs to determine how he feels about it all and what he's willing to do to remain an integral part of the All Blacks machinery.

Dane Coles, albeit a man who is considerably younger than Kaino and who was sidelined for different reasons earlier in the year, spoke today about the mixed emotions he felt seeing Codie Taylor perform so strongly against the Lions.

On the one hand Coles was delighted his teammate contributed to the team, took his chance and showed his class.

There was a bit of him, though, that was aware of how much harder Taylor was making it for him to win back that No 2 jersey and by extension, it triggered within Coles the realisation how much he still wanted to be an All Black.

Whatever else may be going in Kaino's life, at some stage in the immediate future, he's going to have to confront himself and ask whether seeing Squire storming around to such devastating effect is a motivating factor or a sign that time is up.

No one owns an All Blacks jersey.

No one has the right to consider it theirs but that doesn't stop long-term incumbents from feeling a little possessive when they see someone else in it.

If Kaino does interpret Squire's form as a catalyst to lift his own, then when he returns to the squad - probably for the Argentina test in New Plymouth on September 10 - there will need to be demonstrative proof that he's hungry, driven and still capable of world class performances.

If he doesn't feel like that, it won't take long for the selectors to work that out and find a way to allow a great career to end with dignity.