Not so long ago the Chiefs hit rock bottom. Eleven successive losses equalled the worst losing run by any New Zealand Super Rugby side. Two years on from that nadir, and they hold an ironclad grip on favouritism for this year's title. For good reason, too.
Unbeaten through nine games -- a franchise record start to the season -- which includes knocking over the six-time defending champion Crusaders home and away, the Chiefs are edging ever closer to claiming their first championship in a decade.
With five regular season games to play the Chiefs have a two-win buffer on the chasing pack. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but given their compelling form, they are odds on to secure home advantage through the playoffs.
The 23,000-strong sell-out that greeted the Crusaders last Saturday in Hamilton will, therefore, not be the last this season.
The culmination of this rebuild now in full view started with Clayton McMillan's appointment as head coach for the 2021 campaign.
McMillan began with no promises beyond his initial interim role, while Warren Gatland led the British & Irish Lions on their South African tour, but the former policeman soon became irreplicable.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, McMillan has restored the infamous Chiefs mana. He's regained and evolved lost connections to their Māori cultural heritage first established by Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith who, together, masterminded the Chiefs' maiden titles in 2012 and '13.
McMillan assembled a complementary coaching staff and with each progression -- from the upset win against the Hurricanes that snapped their losing run to the 2021 Aotearoa final and last year's semifinal defeat in Christchurch -- confidence has gradually become infectious.
While the Chiefs boast incredible depth, particularly in their confrontational forward pack that features All Blacks Samisoni Taukei'aho, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Tupou Vaa'i, Josh Lord, Luke Jacobson, Pita Gus-Sowakula and Aidan Ross, the true strength of this year's season is evident from their fringe prospects.
The Chiefs have spent much of this year without three leading midfielders -- All Blacks Anton Lienert-Brown, Quinn Tupaea and Munster-bound Alex Nankivell. In their respective absences, 22-year-old Taranaki concreter Daniel Rona and the unheralded Rameka Poihipi stepped in with aplomb. Impressive lock-loose forward Samipeni Finau is another consistent, standout contributor on both sides of the ball. Just as losing can become an unwanted habit so, too, do successful teams find ways to maintain collective standards and keep winning.
Damian McKenzie's homecoming, after venturing to Japan last season, is another significant factor in the Chiefs revival.
McKenzie missed All Blacks selection for last year's northern tour with Blues playmaker Stephen Perofeta retaining his place. Such is McKenzie's influence on the Chiefs from fly-half this season, though, he will be impossible to exclude from Ian Foster's World Cup squad.
In head-to-head battles with incumbent All Blacks puppeteers Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett this season, McKenzie upstaged both to thrust his name into the starting Test conversation.
Casting ahead, with Mo'unga and Barrett set to play in Japan post-World Cup, the All Blacks No. 10 jersey is McKenzie's to lose in 2024 after this week re-signing for a further two years in a considerable boost to New Zealand Rugby's dwindling playmaking stocks.
Back to the present where McKenzie recovered from a shaky first half against the Crusaders to orchestrate two telling second half tries and finish with 17 points in another defining performance. Outside McKenzie others are pushing their case for World Cup inclusion, too. None more so than fullback-wing Shaun Stevenson, who leads the competition with nine tries, and fellow uncapped finisher Emoni Narawa after he was name checked by Foster in recent weeks.
While it appears the Chiefs have undergone a dramatic transformation since their low-ebb in 2020, many of the same senior figures remain.
McMillan's intriguing leadership blend of staunch demands and behind-the-scenes care has, clearly, struck a chord but Sam Cane, Chiefs co-captain alongside Brad Weber, believes living through the dark days helped form the wave this team is now riding.
"It's fair to say it's a pretty happy camp at the moment," Cane said. "It's really enjoyable coming to work each day and training. Clayton is running a bloody good ship on and off the field.
"Even through those tough times there were a lot of good things in place that set us up well for the future. The values we were showing; how we were turning up each day I couldn't have asked for any more during those tough times.
"I remember thinking it wasn't going to take much to turn that around and here we are, a few years later, in a good position.
"Not much has changed off the field but we've had a group that's stuck together for a few years now; we're all a few years older, more experienced and understand what it's about. We're all wanting to grow and get better and we're now starting to see some of the fruits of that."
From dominant ball carries to their defensive resilience, having made twice as many tackles as the Crusaders last weekend, to their dynamic playmaker and lethal outside backs, the Chiefs boast all the requisite tools to capture their first title since 2013.
Perhaps most tellingly, though, is their grounded, driven mentality and the recognition they haven't achieved anything yet.
"We know it doesn't matter what we do during the season," Cane said after inflicting the Crusaders first dual losses to the same opposition in the same season of the highly successful seven-year Scott Robertson era.
"Our focus is very much on winning a Super Rugby title and history shows the team that gives themselves home playoff games gives themselves the best chance. We're very focused week to week and trying to get better but in the back of our minds we know it's not going to count for anything unless we can go all the way."
Few would bet against the Chiefs doing exactly that.