After a season of rapid improvement with few expectations, the script will flip in 2023. They will return to high expectations. And while the Waratahs have so much upside left in them - on attack, in their handling, their physicality and their discipline, to name a few - the trajectory will start to flatten out.

Recruitment will be key.

In the 2013 off season, Cheika augmented a very good NSW squad with a few strategic signings. Not all of them made a mark, but a few were instrumental to the side’s success the following year. Think Tolu Latu, Jacques Potgieter, Nick Phipps and Kurtley Beale.

We know that Beale and Nemani Nadolo will be at Daceyville next season, while there is persistent talk that Latu and Randwick halfback Harrison Goddard might also be added to the roster.

Front row depth is still lacking and, despite being a much-loved son of NSW, Paddy Ryan does not seem to be the answer. They need size. Another couple of Will Harrises wouldn’t go astray.

“It’s definitely bigger bodies running harder and faster. There’s not a lot of science to it,” Coleman said on Saturday night.

“We’ve got to try and get bigger, faster and stronger. They (the Chiefs) won a lot of collisions in the first half. That gave them the ascendancy.”

It will be a very interesting off season in the footy departments of the Australian Super Rugby franchises. Uncharacteristically for a preseason before a World Cup year, there is a lot of movement in rosters around the country.

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The Brumbies, who will be coached again by Stephen Larkham next season, are saying goodbye to Tom Banks, Scott Sio, Folau Fainga’a and Irae Simone when their season ends, while inbound Force coach Simon Cron is working with Matt Hodgson to rebuild a roster after several departures in the west.

As ever, Australia’s depth is under the microscope. Finding the right person in the right position will be a challenge for Coleman and his rugby general manager Andrew Blades.

Meanwhile, the Brumbies travel to Auckland to face the Blues next week and fly the flag for Australia in the Super Rugby semi-finals, while a Waratahs-heavy Wallaroos kick off their Pacific Four campaign with a Test against New Zealand in Tauranga, south-east of Auckland, on Monday afternoon.

Watch every match of the Super Rugby Pacific on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Both semi-finals streaming ad-free, live and on demand only on Stan Sport.