Winning was a way of life, just what happened when Auckland or the Blues played. No one had any real reason to believe otherwise, especially as Auckland has more players and more resources than the rest of the country.
But sport, or at least professional sport, constantly writes new histories and is forever proving that money plus people is rarely a formula for success.
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Clubs which have enjoyed sporting dynasties have usually had a host of significant factors all combine at the same time: a great coach meets great players and the chemistry all works well.
There is nothing inherent within the club itself which fosters success as Manchester United have found out since Alex Ferguson left as manager. As the Chicago Bulls have discovered since Michael Jordan retired and the Brisbane Broncos realised once they lost Wayne Bennett as coach.
Nor is population or geography any kind of relevant factor in a mobile, hyper-connected world. Size means nothing, proven by the fact Los Angeles, the USA's second largest city by population, has only once had a team win the Super Bowl.
New York's achievements in the NFL haven't been much better and the best way for Aucklanders to make themselves feel instantly happier about life is to accept the foundations on which they have built their lofty expectations for the Blues are all wrong.
Same old story as Blues let it slip yet again
The reality is that the Blues have the least experienced, youngest and, without being unduly unkind, the least talented squad of the five New Zealand teams.
Strip out Akira and Rieko Ioane, Patrick Tuipulotu and Sonny Bill Williams and there isn't really much left to excite.
Ofa Tu'ungafasi is a regular All Black but appears to be one of those players who needs leadership and quality around him to get the best out of himself.
Kara Pryor, Jimmy Tupou, James Parsons, Bryn Gatland, Michael Collins, Augustine Pulu and Pauliasi Manu are all good, hard-working players, but not quite in that top echelon and Stephen Perofeta may well mature and develop into an All Blacks regular, but his journey there is going to involve a number of long and chastening nights.
Measured against the golden era Blues, two wins from the first eight games is a disaster. If everyone can find it within themselves to be honest, however, two wins from eight games is about right for this squad, although the performances against the Stormers and Sharks weren't acceptable.
No doubt former coaches Pat Lam and John Kirwan wish that the penny had dropped in their respective tenures, but Tana Umaga can at least be saved from the same fate of being unfairly judged for not producing victories with a team largely underequipped to deliver them.
It is beyond any reasonable doubt now that firing Umaga at the end of the season would do nothing to improve things. There isn't a miracle cure for the Blues and it may take years yet before they finally build the collective skills, experience, maturity and tactical certainty to win more regularly.
Other sporting dynasties only came about because of patience and brave decisions to retain the faith. Ferguson took three years to turn things around at Manchester United.
The Highlanders could have axed Jamie Joseph in 2013 after he had presided over a three-year period which saw them finish eighth, ninth then 14th.
But they had invested plenty in him and felt that maybe he'd got all of his mistakes out of the way. They were right as two years later the Highlanders were champions.
No one should believe that retaining Umaga beyond this year will automatically turn things around but it should at least heighten the possibility of that happening.
As the wheels have fallen off this season he has remained unflappable. He has said the same things each time about the need to be patient, accepting and consistent with the messaging and it suggests that he may have already convinced the Blues board to play the long game and back him for at least another two years.
"Look, I think me going off my top is not really going to help anything," he said after Friday night's loss to the Highlanders.
"We have got some young guys in there who are trying their best and that is all we can ask. We try to educate them during the week and for some it is a big education.
"I'm always proud of the way out guys go out there and do the best they can because that is all we can ask. We can try to put some polish on it and keep trying to educate the boys about the expectations…say this is the level and what is expected of you and say that is it not just a now and then thing, it is all of the time in terms of consistency."
It is possible that far from being detached from the reality of the Blues season, Umaga is the only one who has it in perspective because he came into it with an appropriate level of expectation.
