KEY POINTS:
Two senior coaching positions are available at the moment, there may be more - who knows? - once the combined New Zealand Rugby Union and franchise reviews are completed.
But for now we will assume that the contracts for Colin Cooper, Ian Foster and Glenn Moore will carry over. All three have indicated their continued interest, and New Zealand is not exactly flush with experienced candidates.
There is a groundswell of support and evidence that Pat Lam will inherit the Blues with David Nucifora returning to Australia after three seasons as coach to lead the High Performance Unit in Dingoland.
The Blues have not had a local coach for a decade and while an application from someone such as former Springbok coach Jake White might sway the board, there is a push for someone from within the franchise boundaries.
Lam, Wayne Pivac and Mark Anscombe coach the three provinces in the Blues catchment area and will shoot for the Blues job. Lam has won two NPC titles with Auckland and may have the most political support among the contenders.
Several high-profile officials with serious influence in the Blues region are understood to be pushing for Lam who wants to graduate to the Super 14 after a variety of apprentice-level global coaching experiences. His regular assistant Shane Howarth is probably in that mix.
However there is another faction pushing the wildcard idea of former Blues assistant coach John Kirwan returning from his latest overseas posting as Japan's national coach. The idea of a Lam/Kirwan coaching ticket has been canvassed with some mixed responses.
Anscombe and Pivac also have support because of their knowledge of players within the region, their breadth of coaching experience and a perception that Northland and Harbour coaches have been too readily ignored in the past.
Down south, the push for Mark Hammett to succeed his departing boss Robbie Deans will gather all the momentum it needs if the Crusaders win or make this year's Super 14 final.
Hammett has spent two years learning from Deans and the tournament's most successful franchise has a history of coaching succession. But there are wildcard theories floating around there too.
All Black assistant coach Steve Hansen was linked to the job but inquiries revealed he could not combine his national job with Super 14 work.
Then there was the "Link with Link" - aka Ewen McKenzie the deposed Waratahs coach. Those who believe that also think there is milk in the Milky Way.
Others touted as chances are former assistants such as Vern Cotter who is coaching in France, or Cooper and Aussie McLean who take the Hurricanes south tonight for the opening semifinal.
There is a slight mumble about Rob Penney being promoted from the NPC and some noise about Todd Blackadder but he is likely to be involved as a sidekick.
That leaves a backline coach required and the name which does bounce about is Daryl Gibson, the former All Blacks, Crusaders and Canterbury midfielder who is working in the UK but by all accounts keen to return.
Take your seats though folks because there will be no Super 14 decisions until July - which gives plenty of time for stirring the pot, speculation or just stirring.
