The Manly Sea Eagles endured a difficult first season under Anthony Seibold, but will hit the ground running for 2024 with the sky the limit.
A club with a rich junior talent pool, improving youngsters on the fringes of first-grade and some of the biggest stars in the game at their disposal, anything less than the finals for a second year in a row simply won't be good enough.
Manly made the big call at the end of 2022 to move Des Hasler on from his role, instead controversially handing the head coaching chair to Seibold.
If he can't make it work this year though, his head may well be on the chopping block, and some critical questions will determine exactly how the Sea Eagles perform throughout the 2024 campaign.
Here are the five biggest.
4. What is Jake Trbojevic's best position?
I've written about this extensively previously, but for Manly to succeed, Jake Trbojevic needs to be viewed as a prop in the modern game, rather than a lock.
When Trbojevic entered the competition, he was the definition of a lock forward, but the position has rapidly evolved into something different since his arrival in the competition.
Instead of being a third prop with some play-making ability, the number 13 is now a half in a forward's body.
It's why the likes of Cameron Murray, Isaah Yeo and Patrick Carrigan have quickly risen to prominence in the discussion around the game's best number 13, leaving the likes of Trbojevic and Jason Taumalolo at the North Queensland Cowboys in the rear-view mirror.
Trbojevic though has proven he is well and truly up to the rigours of being a big-minute prop given the impact he had at Origin level in 2023 - and it's a role Manly needs him to play.
While they have plenty of power packets in the middle, led by Taniela Paseka and Toafofoa Sipley, Trbojevic provides the stability, and without trying to ball-play, he provides his two biggest skills - running hard and tackling with excellent technique - in spades.
That does leave the question around the number 13 jersey, but Josh Aloiai has shown a little bit of potential as a ball-playing forward and should have first crack there in 2024.
