KEY POINTS:
There won't be any dunking in a bath of isotonic sports drink; there probably won't even be any emotional goodbyes. At least if Auckland coach Pat Lam has anything to do with it.
Lam is planning to quietly walk away when his four-and-a-half-season tenure comes to end at
Waikato Stadium tonight.
On Monday morning, he'll be straight into work at his new job as Blues head coach, meeting with trainers Ant Strachan and Mark Harvey to plot the way ahead.
It's not that Lam isn't feeling emotional about his departure from a job he describes as having been an "awesome journey". It's just that emotion is something reserved for his players when they are on the field.
Typically, Lam feels he has dotted every I and crossed every T in preparation to face Waikato. His job is already pretty much complete.
"Our preparation has never been about emotion," he said.
"That is something that everyone brings individually.
"After the last training on Thursday I said to my wife `now I can enjoy the next 48 hours. It is all done'. I was really determined to ensure that we had a really good week and covered everything.
"But it is a really weird feeling. You normally get to the end of the season."
Desperate, winless Waikato's approach will be almost the polar opposite.
Coach Tony Hanks is promising to have his team fizzing for the visit of a team roundly despised in the Mooloo province.
"Auckland have come at the right time for us," Hanks said.
"They are the right team at the right time for us. If you can't get up for Auckland at home then there is something wrong. I can assure you the boys are up for it.
"We've worked really hard on bringing a bit of urgency to this game. There is plenty of desperation and plenty of hurt."
Hanks is not only confident his players' attitudes will be right, he is confident they can deliver the victory they so desperately need.
"If we play to our potential we are confident we have got a team that can win this game. I still think that we have got a squad that is good enough to get into the playoffs and have a real crack at it."
While he was still talking a good game, Hanks conceded everything wasn't exactly hunky dory in cow bell land. Several players, he said, were running out of chances to perform.
"If we were a team thinking `where is our next win going to come from, we are not good enough', that would be a concern. But I think there is enough confidence in the group that we know when we get it right we have got a good side here.
"I'd be lying if I said everything was fine because it has been a pretty frustrating start to the competition. It is not what we set out to do. But, for me, I have been with Waikato for the last three years so I have been through the highs and lows."
In 2005, Hanks pointed out, Waikato lost five straight. The following year they bounced back to with the championship.
That team, however, is all but gone, with 18 players having departed the province inside a year. The team has also been crippled by the double-edged sword of All Blacks call-ups.
"We have talked a lot about how we are learning a lot each week," Hanks said.
With Stephen Donald back to partner Callum Bruce in the five-eighths, there is a much more solid look about Waikato.
But Auckland have also been boosted by the return of Joe Rococoko and the continued presence of John Afoa, Keven Mealamu and Isaia Toeava.
With both teams in underwhelming form this season it shapes as anybody's game.