All Blacks captain Richie McCaw is likely to sit out the first three rounds of the expanded Super 15 rugby season in 2011, an early indication of how New Zealand's franchises will have to manage their internationals during World Cup year.

McCaw has indicated he would prefer a graduated start to the Crusaders' bid for an eighth title after the world's premier openside flanker sought and was granted a similar dispensation this season.

All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen sees the logic in McCaw recuperating after a strenuous season which culminates in the current five-test end-of-year tour.

"It's a long competition now and he knows his body better than anyone," Hansen said today.

"If Richie thinks that's what he needs to do I'm sure he'll talk to (Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder) and they'll come to some sort of agreement."

Hansen said Brad Thorn, who turns 36 in February, would also need to have his workload carefully monitored by the Crusaders despite the durable lock's standing as one of the All Blacks squad's fittest athletes.

"We'll have to look after him," Hansen said.

"Tight five players are a little bit like boxers. Eventually the legs go and they lose that athleticism. We've got to make sure we look after him - we and the Crusaders.

"The Super 15 is elongated even more now and one of the fresh challenges for those coaches is how do I involve all my squad and at the end of the tournament be in a position to be in the finals and have a group of players that still have plenty of petrol in the tank?"

Thorn is notoriously reluctant to miss games and underlined his supreme conditioning at the pre-departure camp in Auckland ahead of the Bledisloe Cup test against at Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday.

He was only bettered by McCaw in the infamous "yo-yo" shuttle run test of endurance, an outcome that hardly surprised Hansen.

"With that test a lot of it's about ticker too," Hansen noted.

"We know he's got a big motor. He pushes himself when he plays, he pushes himself right through the pain barrier. That's years and years of training and being a professional," he said.

"To be 35 and be doing what he's doing doesn't astound me. What you've got is a unique athlete that's got the desire to keep putting the work in from Sunday to Friday so he can play on Saturday at the highest level.

"All of us enjoy Saturdays - what made us all retire is we couldn't be bothered going out in the rain, leaving the family and the training. That's what stops you, the motivation inside you, not age.

"He's clearly still got a burning desire to go to the World Cup. I guess that's what gets him up in the morning and makes him do what he does."

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