Whether it can scale the mountain and win the Mitre 10 Cup Championship final rests on 23 guys in blue and gold.
Certainly, it has the form on the board. The side qualified top of the Championship, beating every other side in the division and also knocking off premiership finalist Tasman.
It then saw off a determined Bay of Plenty side in the semifinal last week, staying strong in defence and running in some clinical tries.
But runs on the board in the end mean little in a final. It is one team against the other and execution and composure win games.
Otago coach Cory Brown said the side had been enjoying the build-up during the week, and playing at home undoubtedly helped.
"Everyone is in really good spirits ... the guys know what they have to do. We are playing under the roof. If we play our game we will be fine," he said.
It has been 18 years since Otago last won a final and Otago’s coach on that day back in 1998, Tony Gilbert, handed out the jerseys to the current team yesterday.
All Blacks and Otago players Ben Smith and Liam Coltman were at training and also had a word to the team about how to finish the season.Brown said the side had watched replays of the 1998 final and was hoping to create the same buzz for the province with the win.
The side will be without hooker Sam Anderson-Heather, who pulled out yesterday because of a calf injury. Brown said it was a real shame for the Dunedin hooker, who had played for many years for Otago and deserved to play in one of the biggest games for Otago for a long while.
Youngster Sekonaia Pole starts and veteran Andrew Hore will come off the bench.
North Harbour shapes as a tough opponent. The side has a solid set piece and carries the ball well. It has some dangerous players out wide who will take up any chance that comes along.
It is also the side in the Championship which conceded the least number of points, though that can be a misleading statistic.
Finals at this level are generally high-scoring affairs, with plenty of tries being scored. But they are also inevitably close. Otago was blown away in 2012 by Counties-Manukau but the past three finals have all gone down to the wire.
Otago will not want that. The longer the game goes and remains close the more the confidence within the North Harbour team will build.
The visiting team will also have the added incentive of playing for coach Steve Jackson, who is leaving to join the Blues coaching staff. About 10,000 tickets to the match had been sold by yesterday. The Otago union is hoping for a crowd of about 12,000 for the match.