Sam Whitelock waves to the crowd after an All Blacks game against the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
Sam Whitelock waves to the crowd after an All Blacks game against the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
OPINION
It would have made a great storyline had Sam Whitelock returned to New Zealand to continue his test career, but his decision to instead retire when the French club season finishes in June, is the right one.
When the prospect of Whitelock being part of this year’s All Blacks squad was floated as a possibility, it sparked a little flicker in the hearts of sporting romantics who could envisage an incredible postscript being written to an already incredible career.
At 35, Whitelock could easily come home, slot into the All Blacks’ engine room and chug away for a couple more years - maybe even another four, smash through the 200 test barrier and who knows, even play in a fourth World Cup final.
None of this was beyond the scope of imagination and yet the news that he’s going to call it quits instead and hang up his boots, seems like the wiser course of action.
As Whitelock himself acknowledged in his valedictory speech, he’s in good enough physical shape to carry on and he still loves the game.
His decision to retire he says is about shifting the needle away from himself to his wife and children, and ensuring they are prioritised ahead of his career.
He wants to be present, invested in their lives and while that is unquestionably at the core of his thinking, so too is it probable that he made some pragmatic reasoning to conclude that he had more to lose than gain by making an All Blacks comeback.
One of the hardest plays for a professional athlete to master is the timing of their retirement.
There are so many factors at stake - have they achieved all they wanted? Are they set-up for life financially? Do they still have the physical and mental ability to get better if they keep playing?
It’s never easy to know when the right time to end it all is, and Whitelock, by signing a two-year contract with French club Pau that gave him the ability to exit after one, was leaving the door open to all manner of possibilities when he headed off after the World Cup.
And the possibility of resuming his test career, of winning more caps and taking on a mentoring role where he could shape the career trajectories of New Zealand’s next generation of locks, would undoubtedly have been tempting.
Everyone has an ego - and everyone likes to be wanted.
But the danger for Whitelock, had he decided to resume his career in New Zealand, is that so much of his value would have been unseen and underappreciated outside of the teams in which he played.
Sam Whitelock and coach Scott Robertson. Photo / Photosport
Coaches take a holistic view about what players offer, but the public and media don’t - they judge on what they see on match day and Whitelock was fearful that he wouldn’t reach the same heights that he previously had.
He didn’t want to be that guy who tarnished his reputation by playing too long and perhaps contained within this thinking is an acknowledgement that the modern game has transitioned lock from being a position for older athletes to one best suited to younger players.
While it is undeniable that Whitelock at 34 and Brodie Retallick at 32 were genuine assets for the All Blacks last year - a potent combination of experience, presence and calm - this inexorable shift towards making the game faster, more aerobic and fluid will inevitably push international selectors towards younger, more dynamic, agile locks.
Ireland have found a home for 22-year-old Joe McCarthy this year and he’s been a revelation - so explosive when he carries and brutal when he tackles.
England have seen a similar contribution from Ollie Chessum, 23, and it’s hard not to feel that the All Blacks will be better served in the long-run by having to find a new Whitelock, rather than leaning too heavily on the old one.
This is, after all, the natural way of things and the All Blacks have shown that so often. The only thing the next superstar-in-waiting needs is opportunity.
Whitelock himself wasn’t a player anyone imagined would be playing for the All Blacks six months after he started his first Super Rugby campaign with the Crusaders in 2010.
But the All Blacks picked him and he did the rest - instantly impressing and finding his feet at international level.
Retallick wasn’t a name many were familiar with when he came into the Chiefs squad in 2012, and yet he was a first-choice test player that year and it seems unlikely, based on history, that the All Blacks won’t unearth something special at lock this year.
There certainly appears to be a handful of promising athletes and already new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson must be wondering if the likes of Jamie Hannah, Josh Lord and Fabian Holland - once his eligibility is cleared up - can become high quality international locks if they are just given the chance.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.
