KEY POINTS:
So it's up, up and away with the NRL and you've got to love those promoters.
We're charging into round one on a giant cushion of hype. In case you aren't aware of it, this will be the best season yet, mate.
A crowd of 50,000 was tipped for the Broncos' opening night against the Cowboys last night; the word was 30,000 bums will be on seats at Mt Smart Stadium tonight when the Warriors host the Eels.
But if the verbals sound a bit same old, same old, in the Warriors' case there should be substance to match the talk this season.
It's four years since the Warriors figured in the top eight playoffs; five since they reached the grand final against the Roosters on a marvellous night in Sydney. From there, the Warriors finished 11th and 10th, until Ivan Cleary took over last year.
You've got to hand it to Cleary. Alongside some of the hard-bitten characters of the NRL coaching fraternity, he's a coaching novice.
Yet he went about his business quietly and effectively last season and, shorn of four points through events beyond his control, took the team as far as he could, to the brink of the playoffs. Four points off. The maths aren't hard.
Coaches come in all sorts. There are ranters, strong, silent types, analytical thinkers and others who seem to possess a pretty equable temperament.
They tend to take the view that it's best not get too excited because next week might bring a fall. Equally, there's no point leaping off a tall building over one bad result. Life goes on.
Cleary appears to fit that category. Not for him either the style of Tony Kemp, banging madly on the walls of the coaches' box after a win during his Warriors reign; or the monosyllabic funeral face of grim Wayne Bennett.
People are talking about this campaign. There's a bit of buzz about.
Can Wade McKinnon fill Brent Webb's not insubstantial boots at fullback? A Grant Rovelli-Michael Witt double act behind the pack might lack star appeal but can they do the job? And how much will Cleary coax out of his old troopers up front, Steve Price and Ruben Wiki? All this and more ...
Get early points, build some momentum and they're in business.
Prospects? As a minimum the playoffs, and preferably a step or two further than that. The loyal mob who turn up week in, week out deserve it.
Last year was a settling-in term and, all things considered, a decent result. Now it's time to move on up.
