The Brisbane Broncos fell agonisingly short of their first premiership in almost two decades last year, and will now aim to maintain the rage heading into 2024.
Some big name exits from Red Hill aren't about to make life any easier for coach Kevin Walters though, with the club also aiming to prove they can now be consistent at the top.
With an ageing halfback, questions over their depth and and off-field contract negotiations likely to be a distraction, here are the five big questions likely to shape the 2024 campaign for the Brisbane Broncos.
This might be the single biggest issue for the Broncos coming into the 2024 season, such is the importance of the veteran halfback to anything the Broncos touch.
Kevin Walters' side has plenty of youthful exuberance, and all of those players stood up in a big way during last year's run to the grand final. Reece Walsh led them, but Ezra Mam was fantastic in the grand final in particular, while a number of other players are snapping around the first grade side and ensuring there is competition for spots.
Even those who aren't so young but maybe lacking the experience of other established campaigners like Jesse Arthars, who booted Corey Oates out of first grade, did their job within the squad.
As the saying goes, you win a premiership with 30, not 17.
But none of what happened at the Broncos in 2023 was possible without the calm head of Adam Reynolds. They would have still probably been a solid outfit without him, and would be again in 2024 if he runs into injury issues, but it goes without saying that he adds so much to this Brisbane outfit.
The more experience other young players gain, the better Brisbane will ultimately, be, but for the time being, they simply must have Reynolds on the park in clutch moments to win games.
Speaking of players gaining experience and continuing to improve, the two stars of the show for Brisbane - and the two players who realistically captured the minds of fans left, right and centre, were Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam.
Both players were simply phenomenal for the Red Hill based outfit.
The Broncos were, by some, criticised for bringing Walsh back to the detriment of other young fullbacks who had stayed with the club. That included Selwyn Cobbo, but given he has re-signed despite playing away from the number one jersey, and given the incredible season Walsh put together, you won't find anyone suggesting it was the wrong move now.
Mam, on the other hand, has been a prodigy for many years in the Brisbane system, but even his biggest fans would have been stunned by the speed he improved in 2023, finished with a stunning grand final hat-trick tbhat saw the Broncos putting a hand on the premiership trophy before having it yanked away by Penrith.
In key spine positions, these two players must again be at their best in 2024 to have Brisbane firing, and given the losses elsewhere in the squad, some would argue they may even need to find another gear.
One of the big losses for the Broncos heading into 2024 is without a doubt Thomas Flegler.
The prop became something of an elite figure at Red Hill in 2024, becoming an equally important part of the front row rotation alongside Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan.
Such was the dominance of the trio that there wasn't a great need for the back-up brigade to provide big minutes or output.
But Flegler has signed for the Dolphins in 2024. That is going to put extra pressure on Haas and Carrigan, but could also potentially expose Brisbane's pack.
The likes of Corey Jensen and Martin Taupau will be called on to provide experience, while it could be a breakout year for the likes of Benjamin Te Kura or Xavier Willison.
Fletcher Baker will earn first crack at replacing Flegler though, and the ex-Rooster will need to go to another level if he is to match the prolific output of a player who earned a recall to Queensland's State of Origin side in 2023.
Blake Mozer has been compared by some good judges to Cameron Smith. Some have called him the second coming of the champion hooker, so highly regarded is he.
He has excelled at all levels making his way through the system, and is, without a doubt on his current trajectory, a future State of Origin player.
But to this stage, the youngster has only had a single first-grade game coming off the bench during Round 27 against the Melbourne Storm when both teams had most of their best 17 sitting on the sideline ahead of the first week qualifying final that would follow.
But Mozer will be primed to see first-grade in 2024.
It's just a question of when. The issue for the youngster is that Billy Walters has turned himself into one of the game's most improved players in cementing Brisbane's number nine jumper, while Tyson Smoothy jumped onto the bench at the back end of 2023 and impressed.
Mozer will likely turn himself into the best hooking option Brisbane have in the long-term, and he isn't someone they will want to lose when his contract comes up for dispute next time, which means they need to find him minutes in 2024.
But they can't do that to the detriment of the side if Walters and Smoothy in combination are actually what's best for the side.
It's going to be an intriguing storyline to follow, with Walters needing to nail his selections in the all too crucial hooking position throughout 2024.
This question could be one that will pop up for a few clubs throughout this series, such was the in some ways wild nature of the 2023 season.
When you have three sides crumble out of the top eight, and two of their replacements move all the way to the top four, that leaves some real head scratchers over what expectations should actually read for clubs in 2024.
One of those clubs to fire up the ladder was the Broncos, with their run to the grand final coming on the back of a dramatic collapse in 2022.
I'm inclined to say 2023 wasn't a flash in the pan, but I'm also not sure if it was Brisbane's best crack at winning a competition in the immediate future.
2022 saw Brisbane strong enough for much of the season before fading away. They didn't repeat that in 2023, but their big exits in Flegler and Farnworth for 2024 could leave them a little short on depth and in the engine room to suggest they will challenge the top teams come September.
That said, they should be well and truly in the top eight again and prove that 2023 was the start of something greater at the club in years to come as they continue to build with what is an incredibly talented pool of young players.