All the talking is over, it's now down to the real thing.
That's pretty much the attitude of the Dalefield men's squad as they prepare to open their 2015 Capital premier division men's hockey campaign with a match against Harbour City-Tawa at Clareville tomorrow.
The game is starting at the earlier time of noon so as to allow players and spectators to watch the action in the Blacks Caps World Cup quarter-final cricket match with the West Indies.
Much has been made - and rightly so - of the quality in the Dalefield line-up and, what's more, they are all but 100 per cent local. Goalkeeper Fletcher Phillips is the only player not to have either played for Dalefield previously, or had their early hockey education in Wairarapa, although the bulk of them have been playing for Wellington-based clubs in recent times.
Their return has been not only been prompted by a desire to see Dalefield succeed, but to lift the profile of Wairarapa hockey as a whole and nobody knows better than them that neither objective will be obtained if they don't have regular success on the field.