In November 2021, Fremantle Dockers chief executive Simon Garlick presented a bold strategic plan for the club.
Across the 2022-2025 seasons, Fremantle wanted to win at least one AFL and AFLW premiership, achieve three top-four finishes across both sides, and average 50,000 fans at Perth Stadium for its men's side while growing its membership base to 80,000.
The club also wanted to average 6,000 fans at its women's matches, while becoming one of the league's top financial operators.
While all elements of the plan will contribute to the long-term success of the Dockers, it was the ambitious goal of premierships which attracted attention and headlines.
Entering the second year of the strategy, it can be argued — especially on the men's front — things are trending in the right direction.
The Dockers finished sixth in 2022, ending a finals drought which went back to 2015, and did so largely without former captain Nat Fyfe and with a misfiring forward line.
It's reasonable to expect Fremantle, with its raft of talented youth, to push on and hunt a top-four finish. Indeed, the club itself expects at least a top-six spot.
"We'd be certainly very disappointed if we didn't get to the level that we achieved last year," Garlick said at the club's season launch.
But he also warned that progression isn't linear, that clubs regress or stagnate while improving over time.
Despite that warning, it will be hard to placate expectant fans if the Dockers do falter at times this season.
Fremantle supporters seem to have shifted from hoping for success, to expecting it.
The new guard
Much has been made of Fremantle's brigade of young, talented players, with Andrew Brayshaw finishing fourth in the 2022 Brownlow Medal count, while also being named the player's player of the season.
He, along with Caleb Serong and Will Brodie, will carry much of the Dockers midfield responsibility, following the retirement of David Mundy and the move of Fyfe to the forward line.
With Sean Darcy, star recruit Luke Jackson and Jaeger O'Meara also in the midfield, Fremantle has a centre line which should more than hold its own.
And it has depth, with James Aish, Nathan O'Driscoll, Neil Erasmus and Matt Johnson vying for spots.
Defence hasn't been an issue in recent seasons either, with recently-appointed captain Alex Pearce leading a unit which conceded the equal least goals last season.
But at the other end, potential issues loom.
The loss of Rory Lobb to the Western Bulldogs and Griffin Logue to North Melbourne has left a hole in a forward line already struggling for size and consistency.
Fyfe will need to improve his goal kicking to be a dangerous forward, which he demonstrated in the pre-season, while Matt Taberner's fitness will always have questions marks.
He played 13 games last year, and 16 the one prior. He's kicked 60 goals in that time.
If Taberner can stay on the park, if Fyfe throws his body around, and if Jackson or Darcy can bob up for a couple a match, they should be able to put scores on the board.
That is a lot of 'ifs'.
The Dockers appear on the verge of something, perhaps a premiership, but how they go this season will provide a lot of insight into whether success is on the horizon.
