New Wests Tigers captain Apisai Koroisau knows the NRL club's fans may never forget last year's end-of-season premiership joke.
That during title celebrations with Penrith, a partying, sleep-deprived Koroisau publicly jested about the prospect of being able to win another ring at the Tigers, the 2022 wooden spooners.
"I don't think it will be (forgotten), and I have no qualms with that," Koroisau said on Wednesday.
"I made that choice and I am accountable for my actions. So it is what it is."
On his second day on the job as Tigers captain, Koroisau did all he could to avoid talking about the post-grand final jibe.
The hooker is adamant the fall out from that drama is over, and sees no value in estimating what success it might take for the joke to be left in the past.
Tigers teammates at least have moved on, having voted to make the star recruit their skipper, and Koroisau said he had not been sledged about it.
But after 11 years of misery for Tigers fans through the longest finals drought in the NRL, Koroisau is aware only one thing can change the club's fortunes.
"Since the day I got in it's just about playing better footy," Koroisau said.
"There's a saying: Winning solves everything. On a club level or playing level, we just have to make sure we understand that.
"Winning football games is the difference for everyone in the club and the way we do that is by training hard and making sure we do the little things right."
As captain, Koroisau is now at the forefront of the Tigers' hopes for a turnaround alongside coach Tim Sheens and mentor-in-waiting Benji Marshall.
The No.9 will overcome a calf injury to play in round one alongside halfback Luke Brooks, while recruit John Bateman is hopeful of clearing a visa hurdle in time to face Gold Coast.
Along with Koroisau and Bateman, the Tigers have also bought genuine frontline talent in former NSW Origin prop David Klemmer and form second-rower Isaiah Papali'i.
Koroisau claimed he leads a team capable of playing finals football.
"The team we have now and what I am seeing at training, they are top-tier," he said.
"You have some really good competitors and some really experienced guys who really know what they're doing."
Koroisau's rise to the captaincy is his first appointment to a top job.
He watched John Sutton and Sam Burgess win a premiership at South Sydney, played under Daly Cherry-Evans in turbulent times at Manly then saw James Tamou help turn Penrith around.
"Everywhere I have been has been really different. People have responded to them differently as well," Koroisau said.
"Cherry-Evans is so different to Burgess, who is very different to Nathan (Cleary), (Isaah) Yeo and Jimmy (Tamou).
"I have just picked up little things from each of them and I will probably try and do it my way."
