Chris Rattue: Time for Blues to get serious, get Carter

Illustration / Rod Emmerson.

Hopefully, it isn't too late to roll out the red carpet. A story blew in and out a week or so ago, claiming Dan Carter might consider making Auckland even more of a home by playing for the Blues.

This is just about the best news for rugby in this part of the world since Frank Oliver left (sorry Frank, just kidding, you weren't the only disaster up here, not by a long chalk).

If rugby was truly professional, and the Auckland Rugby Union wasn't run by blokes who are glorified car parking attendants, then Carter should be a cinch for this city's team.

Auckland needs Dan Carter, and New Zealand rugby needs its major region to be invigorated.

The Blues are short of real stars, the sort who get the turnstile clicking and win titles. As long as Carter is fully recovered from a serious leg injury, there isn't a better prospect to fire up the game in this city than the billboard king himself.

Auckland, and even the NZRU, should bust a boiler to get Carter into the Auckland ranks rather than see him return to Canterbury after his injury-ruined sojourn in France.

It's hard to gauge whether there is much substance to the Carter-Blues talk, and even harder to know what Carter himself is thinking.

But the whole Blues set-up would benefit from the introduction of a world-class playmaker schooled in the great Robbie Deans' regime.

Hopefully, Carter would teach the Blues a thing or two, rather than the other way around.

Watching their pathetic capitulation against the Reds at Albany, there must be serious questions over whether discipline in their camp is what it should be.

There were a couple of strong performances - with Anthony Boric and Rudi Wulf catching the eye - but the overall effort was abysmal. They are a team without a mantra, who only have good days when the chips fall their way.

Whether the Blues make the semifinals or not - and you would have to doubt that they will - their progress is not encouraging. Pat Lam needs a major rethink.

If only that future could include Dan Carter. The trouble is, Carter may not regard trying to turn around an unruly side as the best way of preparing for the All Blacks, or enjoying his rugby.

He may decide to stick with the devilishly good and stable franchise that he knows, rather than the Auckland devil that he doesn't.

That would be a shame, because the Blues could represent a wonderful adventure for him and the chance to play a very expressive game.

He might even have the chance to alter the course of history. A Blues backline with Carter and Luke McAlister in 10 and 12 would turn the competition on its head, and it is also a potential test combination that could be honed in the Super 14.

The pity is that when it comes to money, Auckland is unable to wield the sort of power that should reflect its status.

Like a Manchester United, Auckland should be able to make Carter an offer he can't refuse.

The irony of the current central-contract regime is that the professional rugby era has largely removed the free market from the equation.

Or maybe the current Auckland administration just doesn't try hard enough. Well, here's a chance to prove their worth.

Okay, so Carter will feel an undoubted loyalty to the red-and-blacks.

But he might enjoy a new challenge, and one that involves trying to harness the potential of the Blues side.

For now, Auckland rugby is like a Ferrari running on diesel.

It should be the big wheel, but instead it is treated like - and treats itself like - another cog in the machine.

How can it be that a team from the country's commercial heart that was once the envy of the rugby world, a team which repeatedly struggles to even make the semifinals of the Super 14 let alone win the title, has not made one significant signing of a world class player in years, if ever?

That is not professional sport.

Even the Western Force, in an Aussie rugby outpost, managed to lure Matt Giteau away from the Brumbies.

Auckland rugby is now run by Andy Dalton, a man from deep within the system. The system works against Auckland's advantages, and Auckland doesn't work hard enough in fighting the system.

You wouldn't bet on Dalton and Auckland securing Carter, and it's hard to know if they are even trying.

*The return of Chris Jack from European rugby is a terrific boost for rugby here. I'm not so sure he will make the All Black grade again, and the test lineout was hardly a star performer when he was supposedly ruling the front.

But New Zealand rugby needs more hardened veterans around.

*It's taken a while, but it had to happen. Rugby league has come up with another dodgy tackle. We've had the grapple, chicken wing and prowler, and now we've got the crusher.

Coach Ivan Cleary was dead right in complaining about a late decision by the referees which hampered the Warriors' chances of landing a last gasp golden point field goal against the Storm.

The final play-the-ball looked like a dog's breakfast as Storm players illegally impeded the Warriors. It was a penalty for our money. But Stacey Jones should have landed an earlier field goal to snare the win anyway. Even the best get it wrong sometimes, including referees.