All Blacks captain Kieran Read has all but confirmed he will leave New Zealand after next year's Rugby World Cup with a destination yet to be determined.

Photo: © AFLO 2018

It appears Kieran Read may be ending his All Blacks career after he competes at next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan wanting to either pick an offshore contract or retire.

Read told the New Zealand Herald he and his young family have always wanted to have an overseas experience together and at the conclusion of the 2019 season is looking like the perfect time to do it.

"Yeah I have," he said when asked if he'd thought about what he will do after next year's World Cup.

"So for me I think it probably won't be in New Zealand. We have always thought as a family that we would like to go overseas and use that experience for the kids. That is probably the main option at the moment."

At the conclusion of next year's pinnacle event Read will be 34-years-old marking his third appearance at a World Cup where he and the All Blacks has been victorious in 2011 and 2015.

He will be close to 50 test caps as the All Blacks captain during which he has won Super Rugby Championships with the Crusaders and 2013 World Player of the Year.

Read has indicated that retirement isn't off the table either but he would prefer to play.

Read first captained the All Blacks in 2012 as a stand-in for Richie McCaw before owning the title full-time in 2016.