What first-year coach Scott Robertson has been able to do with the Crusaders this season has been outstanding, to be undefeated through 11 matches in the world's toughest rugby "conference" is a testament to what he has built in just six short months in charge.
The fact they've done it while dealing with a huge injury toll, the late return of - and then injury to - All Blacks skipper Kieran Read as well as the suspension to stand-in skipper Sam Whitelock makes the seven-time champions' season all the more impressive.
But due to the fragmented Super Rugby draw, and the looming British & Irish Lions tour, the Crusaders face an almighty challenge if they're to go on and end a near-decade-long wait for an eighth title.
A grinding victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday was the starting point of their second season - of sorts - as they prepare for a final four-game flourish that features three more New Zealand derbies, the last of which falls a week after the final British & Irish Lions' Test.
South Africa's Lions, meanwhile, are back home and look to be in the box seat to lift a maiden Super Rugby title. The 2016 runners-up have again been the standout South African franchise and last Friday completed an undefeated three-week tour of Australia with a 13-6 victory over the Brumbies.
With four games to come at home in the Republic, including matches against the lowly Kings and Sunwolves, the Lions are perfectly placed to go one better than last year. It would be a fitting send-off for Gloucester-bound coach Johan Ackermann, too.
It would also offer a semblance of redemption after Ackermann last year curiously sent an under-strength team to Buenos Aires for the Lions' final regular-season game against the Jaguares, when top spot was on the line. Given the history and travel demands of Super Rugby finals, they were always going to be at long odds in Wellington in the 2016 decider.
But having jumped over to the Australian conference in 2017, and completed a clean sweep in the process, the Lions must be considered title favourites given what looms on the Crusaders' schedule. Of the four games on the New Zealanders' run home, only the Rebels can be considered a comfortable victory.
There's also the fact they'd likely face another game against New Zealand opposition come the playoffs and after a brutal British & Irish Lions series, including a tour match where the Crusaders face the tourists themselves, who knows what state the squad might be in?
There is one way they can stay ahead of the South Africans, though: keep winning.
That would see the Crusaders complete the regular season unbeaten, a feat they managed way back in 2002. But that was of course in the Super 12 era, when a win in your 13th game of the season was enough to claim the title. A victory over the Chiefs in Fiji on Friday would be the Crusaders' 12th in 2017. A touch of perspective.
Robertson has done a marvellous job this season and probably has already exceeded expectations in Christchurch, a city where great deeds are always expected. But should the man known as "Razor" pilot the Crusaders to a long-awaited eighth title, it would eclipse the deeds of the champion Crusaders of 2002.
The 2017 Super Rugby season is the Lions' to lose, but the Crusaders are in striking distance of something truly extraordinary.