All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has shown great empathy and understanding in dealing with the 12 players who missed out on his 31-man World Cup squad.

Twelve disappointed men unwittingly became symbols of one of the All Blacks greatest strengths under coach Steve Hansen on a cold Wellington morning this week.

They slumped into the Intercontinental Hotel on Thursday morning carrying a load of questions and a pocketful of angst, but left knowing their family still cared. It sounds a little corny, but it's true.

Four days after having his All Blacks career cut short at 49 tests, fullback Israel Dagg described his coach as a "friend" before vowing to fight his way back into the team.

Hansen has an innate ability to understand and relates to human emotion. He often refers to the All Blacks as a "family" and where possible he tries to treat his players as such.

"As I've said often we are a family and you don't hang your family out to dry so this is a part of the process to complete," he said.

The All Blacks didn't have to fly a dozen blokes in from around the country to soften the blow of missing out on the 31-man Cup squad. Such niceties have not previously been afforded to those who missed the cut. Just ask Christian Cullen who was summarily dumped after a 58-test career before the 2003 World Cup.

Hansen recognises an open and honest process creates a collective buy-in from both the players left out, and their close friends still in the team.

"The meetings were more for the players themselves," he said. "They allow the player to move on a little easier and with more direction and understanding. Some are a little more disappointed and further down that road than others. That's to be expected, we're all human, we're all different."

Some players had quizzed the selectors more than others, but he believed all had left with clarity.

"Most of the questions were pretty predictable and the first thing they want to know is why?" Hansen said. "You can only be as honest as you can be. That's been our ethos right from the word go, honesty. Whilst they may not agree with it they can never come back and say 'you weren't honest with me'.

"It's not about complaints and grievances. It's about understanding. Understanding is the key to being able to accept things and we've given them plenty of opportunity to ask the questions they wanted to ask and made it very clear what we want."

While those discussions could have taken place on Sunday, that wouldn't have been beneficial or fair to the players, Hansen said: "They're in a position today to hear it. If you tried to tell them these things along with the bad news they just wouldn't want to hear it."

Hansen's not the first All Blacks coach to have to drop senior players but few before him have done it with such empathy.

"They're all hard. There is always someone who misses out who is unlucky and has put in a lot of effort and doesn't make it."

The effort put into the unlucky dozen is also part of a World Cup plan that is already revealing itself as being planned with every contingency in mind. Any one of those players may yet star in a sequel to Stephen Donald's The Kick.

With access to training limited it's hard to gauge exactly what the All Blacks are up to, but their first week revealed hints they've left no stone unturned.

On Tuesday first five-eighths Dan Carter and Colin Slade spent some time before training being coached in fine detail by scrum guru Mike Cron on how to correctly feed the ball to a scrum. When asked about it Hansen said it was not a sign that either was planning to play halfback, but noted added, "you just never know."

Which possibly sums up the thought men like Dagg, Cory Jane, Charles Piutau, Jeremy Thrush and Hika Elliot took away from the meeting they never wanted to have, but were probably glad they did.