Football clubs often overestimate their own brilliance in the wake of premiership glory.
That's why repeat premierships are so difficult to win, and why they're so rightfully revered.
Collingwood fell into that trap itself. Maybe not to the same extent as the West Coast Eagles, whose drastic plummet into all-time low levels of irrelevance and feebleness continues, as plans for their 10-year premiership reunion are no doubt being drawn up.
It leaves the Magpies at a critical junction in their modern history. How needle movers at Olympic Park traverse the terrain of this tricky little post-window period will determine the decades to follow.
Here's a fool-proof list of eight steps Magpie power brokers should consider as they look to shore up the long-term competitiveness of their playing list, and health of their business.
6Key Forward hunt
This club hasn't had the services of a genuine key forward since a gloved Travis Cloke was clunking the pill and shanking them from directly in front.
It's no surprise then that this side is struggling to score since the departure of the closest thing they've had to a key forward since Cloke left Collingwood in the depths of the pre-beard Buckley era, in Brody Mihocek.
The Pies have recently ruled themselves out of the race for metronomic Sun, Ben King, but at throw at Hawthorn's stumps for the likes of a Mitch Lewis is not out of the question. The Hawks have an embarrassment of riches at the position, and Hawthorn would be savvy to invest their cap elsewhere because of this.
Lewis and father-son Calsher Dear are both out of contract at season's end, and Dear boasts more upside at seven years Lewis' junior and without Lewis' significant injury history. Conventional wisdom suggests the Hawks will prioritise the signature of the son of their 1991 Norm Smith Medallist over Lewis'.
