OPINION: Jordie Barrett is a freak, in the best possible application of that word. He is an outlier who breaks moulds and alters parameters. He is also a rugby talent set to tear up the best laid plans of All Blacks coaches.

Barrett's emergence as a bigger, stronger, faster and even more consistent performer for the Hurricanes through the first part of the Kiwi Super Rugby season looks set to have major repercussions at the highest level of the game.

It was likely before a ball was kicked in anger in 2018 that Barrett would have featured in the plans of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen as he plots his preferred group heading towards the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

At 21 he is a young man with a ton of upside, fresh off a breakthrough 2017 campaign where he exceeded all expectations with a heady mix of athleticism, skill and delicious instinct. A late-season shoulder injury applied the only handbrake to what was a juicy debut season.

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It is fair to say he ticks more boxes than a professional survey gatherer.

He is an outstanding fullback, more than capable midfielder and at a pinch can even slot in at wing or first five-eighths. He kicks goals with inordinate precision, defuses high bombs with consummate ease and at 1.96m and 101kg has size, wingspan and physical gifts that defy the conventions of his sport.

Very much as Jonah Lomu reset the parameters of the power wing in test rugby, Barrett the younger, with the long limbs of a lock, the power of an elite centre and speed of a world-class wing, is rewriting the book on the modern fullback.

Whether it's soaring to gather the high probing kicks that proliferate in the modern game, or rising to collect a well-aimed attacking crosskick, a la the third test against the Lions at Eden Park last year, he has advantages that turn him into a lethal weapon.

Similarly, when he's twisting in the tackle to unload there's something to be said for having a basketballer's wingspan, and being able to wrap your long limbs around a defender to find your support runner.

It's a heady mix, and one that probably had him anointed at season start as the designated backup to experienced fullback Ben Smith in the All Black pecking order, and probably sitting alongside Rieko Ioane and Waisake Naholo as the foundations of the likely back-three mix.

Now, if anything, his position is even stronger after a sensational start to Super Rugby with the in-form Canes.

Barrett has hardly missed a beat, returning from that off-season shoulder surgery and slotting seamlessly into a backline that has quickly found its mojo. TJ Perenara and big bro' Beauden are running the show splendidly, and outside them Jordie, Ben Lam, Ngani Laumape and Vince Aso are showcasing their strengths with aplomb.

Lam, of course, has the lips flapping with his emergence as yet another Kiwi power wing of the highest calibre, and a potential All Black bolter. Not to mention another one the Blues let get away.

But it's Jordie Barrett's continued rise and the effortless manner with which he has handled the extra size he tucked on in the off-season that will be giving Hansen, and his fellow selectors, the most to chew over.

In fact, don't be surprised if Barrett's form presents as so compelling that they feel they simply have to find a spot for him in their starting XV.

Perish the thought, but the fabulous, and adaptable, Ben Smith might even have to make way at fullback for a young man who simply demands to be played as a behemoth of the backfield.

Look, there are no All Blacks squads, let alone teams, being picked in April. That bridge has plenty of water to flow under it yet.

PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES Jordie Barrett showed what a weapon he can be in the air against the Lions in the third test at Eden Park.

But plans take shape now. Seeds are sown. And maybe, just maybe, a theory is developing that the All Blacks just might pick their best three back-three practitioners, and find a spot for them all.

And at this very moment that would be Jordie Barrett, Ben Smith and Rieko Ioane, with maybe Ben Smith shifting to the right wing.

It's a tantalising prospect, but also just one of many options with the likes of Naholo, Lam, Julian Savea, Matt Duffie, David Havili and the soon-to-return Nehe Milner-Skudder and Israel Dagg also set to press their own claims.

One thing I do know: you would be a game coach to leave Jordie Barrett out of any team you were picking right now.

TICKET GIVEAWAY

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