I would rather blood a kid than play Kaitu’u. He looks well past his best
Usually I'd agree, but our hookers are 28 (Asiata), 25 x 2 (Faessler and Nasser), 23 (Blake) and 21 (Craig). That's a young group and I'm not sure we need to look to youth too much beyond them right now, whereas we might need a ready to go emergency call up in case of injury next year and the broader squad would benefit from the most competitive option possible.
As far as Kaitu'u goes he does look past his peak but I also think he has plenty more to offer, and more than he was showing at the Force, if he's in the right environment. The best way to test that is to bring him in for a while. Only really makes sense if he hasn't found a contract for next year yet, but in that case it's beneficial for both parties.
It's probably much of a muchness though, we've only really got one off games for the period Blake is in the npc and Faessler and Nasser are with the wallabies, so the 3rd choice behind Asiata and Craig isn't going to get much (or any) time outside of injury.