Luke Watson will end his five year career with Western Province in the next fortnight with the knowledge that he could be missing out on a golden period for the Newlands-based union.
The WP captain takes up a two-year contract with English club Bath from the beginning of November, but before that he hopes to lead the blue and white hoops to their first Currie Cup title since 2001.
Should he do so, Watson will at last be delivering on the mission statement that caused so much consternation when he left Durban in 2005, stating that he was moving to a union where he was more likely to get his hands on silverware.
But even if they don't do it this year, the at-times controversial loose-forward is convinced that success is beckoning for WP.
"I think there is an unbelievable future ahead of Western Province and the Stormers, for me the key is just to keep doing what is being done now and not to change anything," said Watson. "The pack that I am part of at the moment is the strongest I have played in since moving to the Cape, and yet it is also probably by some distance the youngest I have been part of.
"That says a lot for where WP are going, where they are headed, and their prospects for the future. I am considered one of the old guys in the team and I am only 25," he said.
"This WP side is an unbelievably young one. Someone like Juan de Jongh has been a revelation at centre, and yet he is only 21, and then you have a prop like Wicus Blaauw who is making a big name for himself already and he is also in his early 20s.
"Dewaldt Duvenage is also only 20, and there are several young players on the fringes who are pushing and who are going to be good players," he said. "Another is JJ Engelbrecht, the under-21 winger who came on in the Currie Cup. He is out injured at the moment but he is a young guy who has size and a lot of gas, I am sure he has a bright future ahead of him."
No matter how well WP do, there always seems to be some negative feeling about, and in this region there is a lot of truth in that old saying that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time.
Yet when Watson spoke glowingly of the systems that are now finally producing fruit, he was only stating fact.
"If you look at the WP Under-19 side you see a team loaded with talent, and it is the same with our Under-21 side," Watson added. ""A lot of hard work has been done on ensuring the pipeline is working, and the players are starting to come through from the age-groups."
The WP Under-21 side need only ensure that they don't lose their match against the Lions today by more than 15 points to book a home semi-final, and the Under-19s have already ensured that they will be playing their semi at home, as of course have the senior team.
A large percentage of the Under-19 team are products of the WP Institute in Stellenbosch.
WP chief professional coach Rassie Erasmus is starting to see results in his quest to ensure that a new culture of robust forward play is created and that there is a factory line of promising front-row forwards and locks to see Province into the future.
WP also won the Under-13 and Under-18 Craven Weeks this year, while the other schools teams all made their finals, so the youth rugby part of the pyramid which provides the material for the senior team is in good health.
Among the innovations introduced by Erasmus are more regular onfield contact sessions between the Under-21 team and the senior team which has helped ensure uniformity of defensive systems and even through to medical protocol.
But while Watson urges WP to trust and have faith in the talent coming through, that doesn't mean he believes the union are wrong to buy in outside talent, and he feels the decisions to lure All Black Chris Jack and Australian rookie flyhalf Matt To'omua both paid off.
"If you talk to Anton van Zyl about how much having Chris Jack here for a few months paid off in terms of the growth of his game you will understand the value that can be derived from buying in players where it is necessary to do so," said Watson.
"Chris was a great guy to have around both on and off the field, and his experience and the knowledge he had to impart rubbed off on all the other guys.
"I have to admit when I first heard he was coming I was a bit sceptical, but it paid off. Apart from Anton, De Kock Steenkamp learned a lot from him and it has helped his development massively."
With the world's best wing Bryan Habana set to link up with the Stormers next year, Jaques Fourie likely to follow, and with Erasmus having a high regard for Lionel Cronje, the Under-21 star flyhalf recruited from the Cheetahs, Erasmus has ensured that the Stormers and WP have been bolstered in most of the areas where it is necessary.
No team can hope to win the Super 14 with just one good player in each position, something the Sharks learned to their cost earlier this year, when injuries exposed a bench that wasn't quite as strong and loaded as it had been previously.
Players who have not played a big part in the Currie Cup but are busy with rehabilitation from injury and will bolster the depth in key areas next year include Adriaan Fondse, Dylan des Fountain, Willem de Waal and Nick Koster while one of the Under-21 players likely to challenge for a Super 14 place next year is lock Martin Muller.