It's the reality check Sam Burgess is glad South Sydney copped straight up.
After a summer of hype and expectation at Redfern, especially over their much-vaunted forward pack, the Bunnies were shot down 36-10 by arch-rival the Roosters at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
It was the worst possible start to a new campaign and nobody was feeling the pain more than Englishman Burgess, playing his first game in the famous red and green after leaving the UK Super League for four years in the NRL.
"I probably think it's the best time we could have got it, Round 1," Burgess said of the thrashing.
"There's been a lot of talk and hype in the media over our team and our forward pack and I'm not a big believer in what's been said."
"I've got faith in our team but I'd rather let our play dictate what's said in the paper."
Burgess and fellow new boy Dave Taylor were good in patches but also made errors as they perhaps tried a little too hard.
Veteran coach John Lang, in his first match in charge, was in a forgiving mood but cautioned against expecting too much from his side early on.
"It reinforced how well you have to play to win games in this competition and it was a real reality check for us," Lang said.
"We've got to aim up as team. We bought Dave Taylor and Sam Burgess - they're not going to be the magic elixir for us."
"We've got a stronger squad with the inclusion of those two players but you can't buy two big young forwards and sit back and think it's all going to happen."
"We've got the same challenges with those guys in that we had before."
"They showed flashes of what they can do but they also came up with some bad errors."
Burgess was already looking at redemption, declaring: "NRL's a tough game and I found that out tonight."
"We've got a lot to work on. We'll go back to the drawing board and I think we all know that."
"The good thing for us as well is we play on Friday (against the Titans) so we haven't got a week, just four or five days before we get back on the horse."