Steve Hansen says he's desperate not to lose the Bledisloe Cup "on his watch" before he signs off after Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, kicks back and toasts semi-retirement with a Canterbury Draught watching New Zealand go about their business.
To the average Australian rugby supporter, it is a painful prospect to consider. But it also reflects the All Blacks' determination to maintain their Bledisloe stranglehold for many years to come. And if Australian rugby is being serious, regaining the Cup in 2020 may in itself be a pipe dream such is the scope of the problem hamstringing the game this side of the Tasman: player depth.
In Wellington on Saturday, the All Blacks were effectively down to their fifth-string inside centre in Anton Lienert-Brown; Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty, Charlie Ngatai and George Moala were on the injured list, yet Lienert-Brown slotted in with ease and made an impressive debut.
The Wallabies, on the other hand, were forced to shift regular fly-half Bernard Foley to No. 12 following injuries to Matt Giteau and Matt Toomua, and that suffered by Kurtley Beale earlier in the year.
One spot further out, Samu Kerevi endured a tough night after being called in for the desperately out-of-form Tevita Kuridrani while Adam Ashley-Cooper's head knock added to the problems on the wings. After a strong debut series against England, Dane Haylett-Petty has been isolated and destroyed in defence by the All Blacks.
There are similar problems in the pack without getting into specifics, although a fifth different lock combination in five Test matches highlights the issues the Wallabies have in the second row.
And then there is the ongoing issue of the huge money on offer in European and Japanese rugby.
It makes for depressing reading, particularly when compared with New Zealand's embarrassment of riches, a seemingly always-overflowing pit of talent that could see the Highlanders' Matt Faddes or Chiefs' James Lowe step in out wide, the diminutive Brad Weber offer cover as the fourth-string scrum-half, and Elliot Dixon or Brad Shields provide options in the back-row.
And the list goes on, right down through to generation-next, where you find a player such as Jordie Barrett. Sound like you've heard that name before? That's because he's Beauden's brother.
On Sunday afternoon, 19-year-old Jordie registered a lazy 25 points playing for Canterbury alongside another of the Barrett boys -- Scott -- in the Mitre 10 Cup. And therein lies New Zealand's great advantage: a long-established and highly competitive third-tier.
The Mitre 10 Cup has, under various banners, been around since 1976, affordeding New Zealanders from all parts of the country the chance to play quality rugby while representing their region. Add to that the Ranfurly Shield -- of which there was a superb challenge in Hamilton on Saturday -- and the strength of the pillar beneath Super Rugby in New Zealand becomes abundantly clear.
Meanwhile in Australia, the Australian Rugby Union is playing catch-up with the National Rugby Championship which kicked off for just its third season at the weekend.
Set up -- rightly or wrongly depending on who you talk to along the east coast -- by the ARU to help to close the gap between club rugby and Super Rugby, Australian rugby and New Zealand rugby, the quality of play in the NRC is some way short of that in the Mitre 10 Cup. And while Australia saw the first NRC-grown Wallaby in Reece Hodge on Saturday, it's going to take some before that becomes the norm rather than the exception. Just as there should have been, there was widespread debate about the long-term planning and health of Australian rugby following the Wallabies' 42-8 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney.
Former Wallabies forward Peter Fitzsimons wrote in support of clubland, and the wonderful afternoon at the Shute Shield final -- covered for ESPN by Greg Growden - while Brett Papworth followed a similar path but decided to take aim at the ARU's top-level spending which was supposed to "make us a rugby superpower".
Both Fitzsimmons and Papworth made valid points and identified greater problems within Australian rugby, that in one way or another relate to the Wallabies' most pressing problem: player depth.
And that's exactly why, with this weekend off, Hansen will probably take a moment to stop, smile and take in some Mitre 10 Cup action all the while knowing the competition will continue to foster the talent he needs to retain the Bledisloe through to 2020.
For Australia, 2030 might well be a more attainable Bledisloe brief.