It may be entirely dependent on the fact that teams tied at the top used to share the then Five Nations title but for the next few weeks we'll still hold on to the fact that we're aiming to become the first team to claim three championships in a row.
We're not as expectant as we were heading in to last year's campaign but you'll do well to find many fans who would suggest that they'd be happy with a third place finish. Injuries and departures may have taken a toll but there's no reason why the World Cup disappointment should have much of an effect. It certainly wasn't only Ireland to be disappointed by what the second half of 2015 brought our way.
As such, when Warren Gatland kicked off his usual round of mind games last week, Ireland fans may have had every reason to think that, behind it all, he's dead right. We should be going in as favourites, shouldn't we?
The reality is, we really don't know. The last few months have been topsy turvy to say the least, there's no telling how we'll cope without the likes of O'Connell, O'Mahony and Henderson. So when he was asked about Ireland's chances during the tournament's launch in London on Wednesday, Joe Schmidt felt it necessary to go ahead and pour a load of cold water on any high expectations that may remain.
To be as candid as I can be, I think a top-half finish would be a good Six Nations for us. We start with Wales and France in a six-day turnaround and then go to England.
If we could be in the top half that means we'd have to be in front of three pretty good teams.
In reality, being in front of Italy and Scotland won't be an achievement. However, if we were to come third, within touching distance of the winners and having developed significantly from the side that crashed out to Argentina at the World Cup then you can certainly see where Schmidt is coming from.
Being realistic, our dream would be to do what no team has done before and we're not going to give up the dream, but we're also reasonably pragmatic and practical in what we try to deliver and I think I would be unfair on the players if I said the only way to be successful is to win the Championship.
Nope sorry, we've changed our mind. Throw the pragmatism out the window and bring back the expectation of last year. Three in a row, here we come. The reason for our optimism? The plain and simple fact that we've seen it all before.
At the same time last year, Schmidt was asked about Ireland's favourite tag and he was having none of it.
Being labelled a favourite? We were unaware of that until this morning to be honest because you do live in a bit of a bubble. For us to be favourites is a distraction, it’s somebody’s speculation.
We try to stay focused on one game at a time. If I was to speculate I might come up with a different favourite.
We know the game at this stage. Schmidt may want to dampen expectation but when Ireland take on Wales on February 7th, there'll be no one thinking a top three finish is the ultimate goal.
