All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson will have frightened his employers already

It’s interesting, on a couple of fronts, to see new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson hold the door ajar to picking players from overseas.

In his first media session as incumbent, the man known far and wide as Razor suggested New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR) policy of only selecting players domiciled here could become open to review or interpretation.

It’s a pragmatic approach and one that I’ve championed for a long time.

Whether it comes to fruition, remains to be seen.

But it’s also recognition that New Zealand no longer possesses the depth to disregard world class players plying their trade elsewhere.

The bit that interests me, though, is what these utterances indicate about Robertson’s reign.

I’m not sure what strengths Roberston’s predecessor, Ian Foster, possessed as All Blacks coach. But I’m well aware one of his weaknesses was that he wasn’t a gift from the content gods.

You could go to a Sunday Steve Hansen press conference and leave with five stories for immediate publication and a couple of others for a rainy day.

Hansen was engaging, forthright and well aware of his intended audiences, be they opponents, referees, administrators or the general public.

He said things that always generated headlines and mostly rallied fans behind the team.

Robertson will do similar, while also making NZR anxious in the process.

Courtesy of its new in-house media arm – NZR+ – NZR needs original content. Robertson will provide it in a way Foster never could and, thankfully for NZR, they’ll be able to edit it all too within an inch of its life.

It’ll be entertaining and semi-revealing and tick all the relevant boxes for the governing body.

Press conferences and live interviews will be a different story, though.

In already deviating away from the proscribed policy, with regard to picking players from overseas clubs, Robertson has shown he will say the quiet parts out loud.

That’s great for journalists and fans, but it will frighten his employers.

Robertson isn’t as off-the-wall as he makes out or shows. Yes, he’s a bit unusual, but often for effect.

There’s an image he’s cultivated and that takes some playing up to at times.

But, no matter how much talent you have at your disposal, you don’t win as often as Robertson has by being a genuine oddball.

However, he does like to regard himself as his own man. Someone who’s different, who’s not stiff and dour and a stickler for the company line.

“Decipher that,’’ was Robertson’s parting shot to media this week, after indicating player eligibility was now up for discussion.

This is a guy who, in cryptic fashion or otherwise, will go off script and will play to the crowd.

It’s all part of the sideshow designed to focus attention upon him and away from his players.

Ultimately Robertson will be judged by results on the park. Off it, though, he’s already a huge departure from the Foster years.

He also promises to be a handful – and occasionally a headache – for NZR’s media department.