Despite his level-headed nature and ice-cool demeanour under pressure, even Ardie Savea admits 2023 will be a life-changing year.
The Hurricanes captain is heading into his final Super Rugby season before taking up a lucrative sabbatical season in Japan and sandwiched between all that is a rather important tournament in France for the All Blacks.
"The older you get, your outlook always changes," Savea said.
"It's made me want to give everything this year."
That's not to say he's pinning it as the most important season in his career to date though.
"For me, every year is an important year; my drive and fear of looking in my brothers' eyes and they don't trust me, that's what drives me."
That level of maturity and comradery has been special for Hurricanes coach Jason Holland to see bloom.
"I think Ardie now has a good understanding of how he leads and what he does well," Holland said.
"The most obvious one is performance — what he does on the park, people want to follow him."
But the star loose forward is now focusing on what he's doing off the park, saying "plain and simple" that his upcoming Japanese stint is for his young family — even though they won't be joining him.
"Money is good, I'm not going to lie but I'll also try something new and it's a bit of change," he said.
"We've got our two dogs so we can't leave them behind, my wife won't leave them so the family will stay behind."
He won't be completely alone though with Hurricanes family in the form of Ngani Laumape joining him as well as others.
"I know Ngani is there so if they need babysitters then him and his wife can have date nights and I'll look after the kids," Savea said, grinning.
There's a big Pacific Island group there so I think that'll be a smooth transition."
It's one of many transitions Savea will make in the coming months If he's to lift the Hurricanes and All Blacks to new heights.
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