Ten years ago, the Highlanders had a decent loose forward trio to take on the Chiefs.
Steven Setephano was a promising player who never kicked on, Craig Newby a good solid Super Rugby player who made three appearances off the bench for the All Blacks, and Alando Soakai racked up more than 50 games for the franchise in a decent stint.
Not bad but hardly earth-shattering.
It is a different story at the Highlanders these days.
Like try fitting six past or present All Blacks into three.
There are four current All Blacks in the mix: Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock, Shannon Frizell and Jackson Hemopo, who is more of a lock but can play blindside.
Then throw in former All Blacks Elliot Dixon and Dillon Hunt and it is getting a squeeze. Hang on, handy enough players in James Lentjes and Dan Pryor are also offering their services.
So, yes competition is cutthroat and getting a start in the loose forwards is akin to wrestling the teenager off the Fortnite controls.
Dixon said yesterday the competition was bringing out the best in everyone.
''It is awesome. Six into three doesn't go. It just makes it a good competition.
''Week in, week out you don't know if you are going to have your position. So you have to play as hard as you can and give it your all. As a team it brings us up a notch,'' Dixon said.
''It is not in-house, like we want that position, and will fight hard for it. To us it is about trying to build each other up towards the end of the season.''
The versatile Dixon (28) said he did not have a preference about which position he played - not that he could with all the options the coach has.
He enjoyed blindside flanker as it was a lineout option, No8 was working in the middle of the park and being dominant while the openside flanker mean being into everything right from the start.
Despite the player depth, Dixon, who played three times for the All Blacks in 2016, has played 11 games this season and all up 90 games for the Highlanders.
Dixon will not be playing for Southland this year as he is off to play for the Ricoh Black Rams, having signed a one-year deal with the Japanese club.
''It is just a one-year deal. Just have a look around, see how we like it. Come back here, depending on where we finish, in January and then back into pre-season.''
He was not sure whether he would continue the Japanese experience but it depended on how things panned out with the Highlanders. Wearing the black jersey again and getting the 100 games for the Highlanders were big goals.
He had signed with New Zealand Rugby until 2020 but had out clauses.
''Just give it a crack and see what happens. I think that is a big part of it. Set the goals and go from there. If you are playing good rugby then you are playing good rugby.''
Dixon said the key at this time of year was treating every game as a playoff match and this started with the Chiefs in Suva on Saturday night.
''They have played over there and we haven't. But it will be good. The All Blacks came back in today and the key for us is to blend them back in.''
Dixon had played in Suva before, for New Zealand Maori in 2015. But it was a week after the Highlanders won the Super Rugby final so memories were a bit ''hazy.''