All Blacks coach Ian Foster insists he knows who his side's captain will be once they continue their Rugby Championship campaign over in Australia - despite leaving a raft of senior players at home in New Zealand.
As the All Blacks named their 35-man squad to travel to Australia for the Rugby Championship and then onto the northern hemisphere for the end-of-year tour, the lack of a captain was notable in announcement of Foster's touring group.
Incumbent captain Sam Cane is out, after suffering a ruptured pectoral muscle in Super Rugby Aotearoa, while stand-in Sam Whitelock will stay home for the birth of a child.
Halfback Aaron Smith had been another captaincy contender, but will also stay home on babywatch, while Dane Coles - who captains the Hurricanes at Super Rugby level - is also out with a calf injury.
Foster faces a dilemma over who will take the reins as All Blacks skipper next, with Codie Taylor, Scott Barrett, Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea and Patrick Tuipulotu all boasting leadership experience.
But he concedes he already has an idea of who'll lead the side when they next take the field against the Wallabies in Perth.
"To be honest, we're pretty clear," Foster says. "But over the last couple of days, as we got certainty of the squad, who was coming and the family situations, we decided to leave our leaders to have a couple of days of grace and just to enjoy being at home.
"They've done a fantastic job behind the scenes, getting the squad ready to go.
"We've got plenty of time now with the Sunday test match - when we get over there we've got three or four days to really acclimatise, get used to contact. Part of that process tomorrow will be to sit down with our leadership group and just sort through the structure we're going to operate in the short term.
"We'll let you guys know as soon as we can."
Foster also praised his senior players for continuing to step into leadership roles over the last 12 months, when more captaincy contenders have been unavailable.
"It's been an eventful 12 months with captains, hasn't it?
"Sam Cane initially and then his injury, and then Sam Whitelock's come in and he's done a fantastic job.
"We've also had Aaron Smith this year, when Sammy wasn't playing earlier in the year, and now Aaron's not there. It has, I guess, tested our depth in that regard.
"But we've got a lot of confidence in our leadership plan, the work done by Gilbert [Enoka, mental skills coach] with our leaders and that programme's been outstanding the last 12 months.
"We know who we want, we just want to get over to Perth and, I guess, create some energy by having those conversations once we're over there."
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