Richard Loe: So what's this reshuffle cooking up?

The All Black coaching changes are perplexing. Photo / Getty Images

It's surprising to me that the All Black coaching reshuffle has passed without much comment.

I didn't like it at all. The reason they changed in the first place was because things weren't working out with Steve Hansen taking the forwards.

They fixed it up and, by the last test they played last year, against France in Marseilles, they were playing well. So why go back to the original combination?

The players have come out and backed the move - but they would, wouldn't they? I always used to say that the best coach I ever had was the one selecting me.

The players aren't going to state publicly that they don't like this move; not in a million years. If I remember rightly, they all liked the idea when Graham Henry took over the forwards and now they like this, too. Yeah.

Ali Williams - who hasn't had all that much to do with the All Blacks over the last couple of years - came out and said it was good Hansen was back but I don't see it.

It's bizarre - and I say that knowing this panel has been inter-changeable. Wayne Smith will handle defence and I reckon that's the right place for him, Henry will handle attack and I am sure all of them will mix and match anyway; helping out in different fields when needed.

Okay, so why do it? Why change the existing structure with the World Cup so close?

I find it strange, unless you have a cynical look at it. Henry will not be the All Black coach after the World Cup. That'll almost certainly be it for him, win or lose.

The suspicious among us could suggest this is a succession plan - that Hansen now needs a successful time coaching the All Black forwards to make sure his CV is complete when it comes to taking over the team.

One part of me believes the NZRU wouldn't have a bar of that - but who would have believed he, Henry and Smith would have been re-appointed after the 2007 debacle? They have now had one of the longest coaching stints in All Black history.

And, look, we are not exactly brimming over with candidates for All Black coach at the moment.

Todd Blackadder is probably the pick of the bunch right now even though the Crusaders got turned over by the Force this weekend. He might have a bit of service to put in yet, though, to ensure he gets the respect he'll need as All Black coach.

Pat Lam hasn't yet convinced with the Blues. Peter Russell has a big reputation at Hawke's Bay but went to the Highlanders and probably really wanted the Hurricanes but, when it came up, missed out.

Overseas, we have the likes of Robbie Deans who will be off-contract after the World Cup, Warren Gatland and even John Mitchell.

If the All Blacks don't win the 2011 World Cup, then there is a chance Australia will - and Deans won't be going anywhere. I'm not sure how the NZRU would react to that.

Gatland, who I understand was offered the Highlanders job before he left for Wales, might be interested in coming back again and I'm sure he will be after the Chiefs job, especially with some of the stuff that's going on there at the moment.

Mitchell is looking for a job, too, and I'm sure he'd been keen on the Chiefs, too.

There might be others but, on the whole, the coaching cupboard is really bare. I'd like to think this coaching reshuffle is aimed at performance and I am cynical enough to dismiss any talk about the reshuffle being another "challenge". They've got a challenge. It's called the World Cup.

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If it goes poorly against Wales and Ireland in the first internationals, maybe it won't seem such a great pudding.