OPINION: There's no doubt Julian Savea will be remembered as one of the great All Blacks wings. The question now is whether he'll actually play for the team again? Hamish Bidwell and Richard Knowler debate the issue.

Hamish Bidwell - Savea's All Blacks career is over

At some point the news won't be "fake."﻿

Julian Savea will eventually want to want to cash in his All Blacks chips and sign with an overseas club. Reports this week suggested that would be Harlequins, until Savea responded via Twitter to describe talk of a done deal as "fake news."

The longer the 27-year-old is out of the All Blacks squad, though, the less his market value becomes. The wing is contracted to New Zealand Rugby and the Hurricanes until the end of 2019 but, if he wants what his reputation's worth, he'll have negotiated a release before then.

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GETTY IMAGES Plenty of dreams have been crushed by a rampant Julian Savea.

Savea's record of 46 tries in 54 test appearances for New Zealand places him among the all-time greats. Only Doug Howlett (49) has scored more.

Teams will pay for that. And quite a lot too. What they're less likely to shell out for is a guy who's going through a prolonged spell out of his national side and can't crack a regular start in Super Rugby either.

GETTY IMAGES Julian Savea's tryscoring feats put him up among the all-time All Blacks greats.

For the first time since becoming an All Black in 2012, Savea is at the mercy of others. Not so long ago, if he was fit he played. Now he can be fit and playing well - as he has been for Wellington in provincial rugby this year - and still not even make New Zealand's 37-man end-of-year tour squad.

It's going to take a swag of injuries, and the generosity of the national selectors, to change that.

Playing for the Barbarians against the All Blacks, in London on Sunday morning (NZT), provides him with a unique opportunity to remind people of what he can do. Otherwise, the rationale is that the road back to international footy begins with a good Hurricanes season. And there's the rub.

After poor 2016 and 2017 campaigns, Savea's hardly an automatic starter for them either. Again, 46 tries in 54 tests is a phenomenal record, but no-one's brand can sustain prolonged periods on the sideline.

Other Hurricanes have presented compelling cases for game-time in the last two years and there's no reason to assume 2017 won't be the same. Savea's now reliant on the kindness of his franchise coaches too.

Savea played an integral part in Wellington's journey back to provincial rugby's premiership and spoke well after their championship final win over Bay of Plenty too. But there was an air of having done his bit and not being around to do the same next year.

Nothing lasts forever.

Richard Knowler - Savea can make it back in black

This is no time to manufacture puke-inducing copy about Julian Savea's achievements prior to the big freeze-out.

There has been enough gushing prose on "The Bus" from those who probably should know better. It's time to forget all that, the past is the past.

And maybe that is part of the problem. Some people might love jabbering about Savea's previous adventures in the All Blacks jersey, but in doing so fail to realise it's pointless to keep sifting through the expired calendars to reminisce about the wing's past deeds.

If words of praise were gold ingots, Savea would have coined it. That was until the All Blacks selectors grabbed the handbrake, asked him to disembark from the fun-mobile and then left him dodging gravel chips.

So let's get to the point. Is Savea's All Blacks' career toast?

Unless you are inside the national selectors' tent complimenting them on what they have done with the curtains and cushions, it's impossible to understand what they are thinking but, clearly, having axed Savea, they have strung a piano wire across the running lane usually reserved for the 27-year-old.

How long does the big chill last? Are the selectors already looking towards the 2019 World Cup, or is this just a warning shot. If it isn't the latter, Savea may as well pack-up his jockstrap and follow the compass needle north.

If it's the former, game on. Well, he will certainly hope it is a fair race. It may not be, but more on that later.

Given Savea couldn't make the current tour squad, even with outside backs Ben Smith and Israel Dagg unavailable, it's obvious the former has slipped down the order. Rieko Ioane, Waisake Naholo, Seta Tamanivalu and Matt Duffie are all options to play on the wing during the northern trip.

Savea swapped his No 11 jersey for a job on the opposite wing during Wellington's season and looked like he was enjoying himself. A big occasion player, for sure, he really let rip against Bay of Plenty in the Mitre 10 Cup championship final last Friday night.

On the subject of whether Savea faces a fair race in terms of getting back into the All Blacks, it might pay to be a touch sceptical.

In the past the national coaches have taken the long stick to the media for daring to suggest that Savea's form didn't warrant selection, stating they knew how to get the best out of him.

Now he's on the outer, the message is they want him to fire up during the off-season and give things a real nudge for the Hurricanes. But was Savea's form in Super Rugby this season any worse than what it was last year?

He couldn't even make the Hurricanes' run-on side for the final in 2016, yet the All Blacks selectors gave him the old octopus treatment and squeezed him tight.

Now he is in a no-go zone. Others may be playing better, but you could argue that was also the case in 2016.

So everything appears to hinge on how Savea performs for the Hurricanes next year. Then it is up to the All Blacks selectors. Once they ran hot, now they are cold.

Savea, a fellow good enough to score 46 tries in 54 tests, has the pedigree to turn up the temperature. That part, at least, is in his control.