Among the Warriors' new signings for the next season, many see the best recruit as an individual who won't see any game time and whose boots come without studs.
But there's a hope, and expectation, new chief executive Jim Doyle can see the Warriors finally fulfil the potential they have promised since the club's inception in 1995.
Doyle knows he carries a weight of expectation heavier than anything Jacob Lillyman can bench press and is aware the announcement that he was taking over from Wayne Scurrah was met with excitement.
Suddenly he was being anointed as the man to "take the Warriors to the next level" and "usher in a new era of success".
Rather than downplay these predictions, Doyle believes the Warriors are on the verge of a new beginning.
"It puts a little bit of pressure on, I suppose, and hopefully I won't let anyone down," Doyle explains. "The club's 20 years old next year so it gives us an opportunity to say that, hopefully, it's a new beginning. They've got 20 years' experience so hopefully they are ready to take another step."
That requires the Warriors to realise their potential and Doyle is bullish about the club's chances of becoming an NRL heavyweight.
"The Warriors have the talent and capability," he says. "They should always be in the top eight.
"They should be finals contenders every time and then pushing to get into the top four on a very regular basis and hopefully getting all the way through to the finals and then winning the premiership. They should really be one of those teams."
The former NZRL chief executive returns to Auckland having spent the last two years working as the NRL's chief operating officer, where he established the league's integrity unit and oversaw complex issues, including anti-doping, player behaviour, and a salary cap review.
His departure left a void in the game's controlling body which lacks experienced league administrators.
However, the NRL's loss is the Warriors' gain, and Doyle believes his time at league headquarters gave him a more complete understanding of the 13-man code.
"Being at the NZRL, I got to know a lot about league and the community and what is taking place here in New Zealand but then going across to Australia, getting to understand that much more.
"Getting involved with the NRL and understanding each one of the 16 professional clubs and what some of them do really well and what some of them don't do so well, gaining a good understanding of the people within the NRL and then the competition itself and the clubs, hopefully can give me some good thoughts and ideas to help the Warriors."
Working with the other 15 NRL clubs gave him an appreciation of how the Warriors are perceived as the sleeping giants of the competition but the challenge is to get the club to realise their ability.
"When you talk to all the teams in Australia, the team they hate playing the most is the Warriors because they know when the Warriors are on-song they're going to be so hard to beat.
"But they just need to be on-song on a more regular basis so they are winning those games. They should be regarded exactly the same as Souths, Manly and the Bulldogs and always be up there."
Doyle recognises player development and recruitment as being key to the Warriors' hopes and admits the club need work in those areas.
"What we've got to do is be much more proactive and much more targeted [in recruitment]. I'm working with the coaching staff at the moment and saying, 'what does our team look like next year? What does our team look like in 2016, 2017? What players have we got coming through into which positions?'
"If we believe we have local talent coming through, well let's make sure we identify that talent, give them individual development plans and work with them to make sure they're always hitting the mark. If we haven't got strength and talent coming through in certain positions, then we have to look at recruitment.
"We've actually got to go and start to target specific positions and start to look at who's the right player for us to bring into the team to complement all the others we've got.
"We've not been as specific as that. When you talk to the coaching staff, if you talk to [football general manager] Dean Bell, there's not been that type of activity taking place."
Changes are already afoot, with Feleti Mateo, Dane Nielsen and Jayson Bukuya exiting, and Ryan Hoffman, Bodene Thompson and Matt Allwood among the new acquisitions.
Doyle believes those new players should add an edge to a team that narrowly missed the top eight this year and help the Warriors make the playoffs in 2015.
"Bringing in Ryan Hoffman and the others should strengthen the team. Hopefully that will make them take the step up. They've got a few younger players who played last year who have now got an extra season under their belt.
"They should be capable now with the same team of taking the step up and then hopefully in 2016 we can add to that further."
- David Skipwith of the New Zealand Herald
