Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan has had plenty of reasons to wax lyrical about his side during their buzzsaw Super Rugby Pacific campaign, particularly after the 12 wins that have seen them dominate top spot in the standings.
McMillan's understated approach continued after the Chiefs' impressive 31-21 win over the fourth-placed Brumbies at Canberra - a location renowned for its inhospitality to visiting opposition.
With a week remaining in round-robin play, the win cemented the Chiefs' position as the No.1 qualifier for the playoffs, ensuring they'll play all their post-season games at their Hamilton fortress.
Defence has been the pillar of the Chiefs' season and it was instantly identified by McMillan as the primary reason for an ultimately comfortable win over the top-placed Australian team in the competition.
The Chiefs pack were clinical against the Brumbies' trademark rolling maul, which saw few opportunities to launch by an accurate all-round performance across the park.
"Our defensive effort was huge," McMillan said. "We understand what feeds the Brumbies' game.
"If we're ill disciplined, if we allow them to play at the right end of the field and they can get their maul game going, it's really hard to stop, but our maul defence, in particular, was really strong and then off the back of that phase play, we made really good decisions.
"We got up and banged them. It was pretty relentless, the boys didn't stop - that was the most pleasing thing.
"I thought our guys prepared really well all week and came over with a great mindset to want to nullify their game, and I think we did an outstanding job with it tonight."
No.8 Luke Jacobson set the tone for the Chiefs, with an outstanding individual effort to open the tryscoring in just the third minute.
Pivot Josh Ioane breached a hole in the Brumbies defence from close range to give the Chiefs a 17-7 halftime advantage, which blew out to 31-7, with crafty tries to Shaun Stevenson and Cortez Ratima.
The hosts managed a pair of late tries - including one in injury time - to soften the scoreboard, but the result was never in doubt for the Chiefs, who led from start to finish.
"It certainly felt like we were defending a lot and we were working really hard," said co-captain Sam Cane.
"There were a couple of times we had to be really desperate and then just hang on, but you're going to get that.
"If we were picky, I think we would have liked to have closed the game out a little bit more efficiently and and cleaner, but I'm pretty really proud of the effort against a very tough Brumbies side.
"I know there's a lot of happy boys in the shed, but there's a heck of a lot of tired and sore bodies in there too."
McMillan and Cane have spoken all year about their team's determination not to rest on their laurels, and Saturday's outing was another example of the bar being raised higher.
With the playoffs looming in a fortnight's time, the signs were ominous for their rivals, as the Chiefs look to peak in the post-season.
"We have to keep improving and keep fine-tuning our game to find areas that we can be better in," added Cane. "If we think we're happy with where we're at, we won't be good enough come finals time.
"We've been pretty hard on ourselves… because we know it doesn't matter how many games you win during the season, it's the ones at the back in that count, so you are building towards those."
The Chiefs will round out their regular season against the struggling Force at Perth next weekend and with top spot secured, McMillan could take the opportunity to give some of his big guns a rest, before the real business begins.
