Coach Mick Malthouse is feeling so bullish about Collingwood's premiership chances in 2010 that he believes the current squad has the potential to perform better than the one he coached to the grand final in 2002.
Speaking on Monday afternoon as the Magpies announced that they have entered into a five-year 'major community partnership' with Westpac that will see the Lexus Centre renamed the Westpac Centre, Malthouse was extremely positive about the club's chances.
Malthouse, who is about to start the second-last season of his coaching stint with Collingwood before he hands over the reins to his former lieutenant Nathan Buckley at the end of 2011, was quick to talk up the Magpies' chances.
The veteran mentor pointed to the fact that there are a handful of players likely to be more driven by being closer to the end of their careers, that the likes of Scott Pendlebury and Dale Thomas have been in the system several years, that Dayne Beams and Steele Sidebottom have a season each under their belts, and that the club has added boom recruits Darren Jolly and Luke Ball to the list.
"I'm not one for nostalgia or photographs or trophies around the home," Malthouse said.
"But there's one photograph in particular I keep at home and I've kept it up on the wall, it's a great reminder to me what can be achieved by people that are dedicated, who are selfless ... and that is the 2002 football side that played against a very mighty Brisbane side."
"This side that we've got at the moment, if it gets the same give to the football club, give to one another ... (and is) totally selfless, it will be better than the side that ran down the race in 2002."
Malthouse stopped short, however, of labelling the 2010 vintage better than the one from eight years ago because it hasn't yet achieved anything.
"But that side stands alone in my mind because there were a lot of players in that side that perhaps wouldn't have got games with a lot of other clubs," he added.
"But what they did, they made sure that that side became exactly what you expect, a team within a team within a team that thought nothing else but about their team-mates."
"Now is this team as good as that? This team potentially is better than that, so we will see over the next marathon season ... it will be a long season and that's why I say about the depth, is so important to us, and we're delighted with our depth, we've got a lot of young kids coming through."
"So if we can get that single-minded approach of 2002 this side's better."
Adding to Malthouse's confidence is the fact that so many players on the list have played finals in recent seasons, which he believes are the equivalent of '20 games really' compared to a home-and-away game.
"We believe that our recruitment right across the board has been very, very good," Malthouse said.
"We've in the last two or three seasons, the last four seasons, we've managed to play in finals and I think that each one of those players has played in those finals ... they've come through a lot of young players."
"The older players now know that it's perhaps around the corner this thing called 'R' for retirement ... I've seen it before with players the extra urgency and they drag another couple of players with them."
"And hence we get this intensity around the place which is exactly what you want coming into a season."
"... I'd say with the draw we've got if we manage to make the top four we've earnt the top four and that gives us the right to say that we've got a real definite chance of winning the premiership."
"So I guess the work's in front of us but the boys are very much looking forward to it."