Knock off the Rabbitohs by 40 points and people sit up and take notice; notch a win over the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium and you enter the realm of genuine premiership contenders.
That's the attitude the Sea Eagles have brought to Brisbane this week as they take a home game on the road and endeavour to maintain their perfect record away from Lottoland in Act Two of the Suncorp stadium double-header on Saturday night.
Wins against the Raiders and Rabbitohs heading into the Representative Round saw Manly rise to sixth on the Telstra Premiership ladder, North Queensland's win over the Bulldogs on Thursday night relegating them one spot down to seventh.
That ladder position could rise again to as high as third by the end of Round 10 but according to lock forward Jake Trbojevic claiming the scalp of the Broncos on their turf would say more than any ladder position can at this time of the season.
On the back of a 13th-place finish last season and starting the year with back-to-back losses had some calling for the head of coach Trent Barrett but in the past seven weeks they have recorded five wins including victories over the Cowboys, Roosters and Raiders to entrench their position within the top eight.
The Sea Eagles have lost their past three matches against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium to the combined total of 110-20 and as such Trbojevic believes a win would prove they can match it with the elite in 2017.
"The Brisbane Broncos are always one of the best teams in the competition and we're sitting in a pretty good place at the moment," Trbojevic said.
"We really need a win and a win against them would definitely prove that we're the real deal.
"I think we're pretty confident within our group. The whole pre-season and even early on we were pretty confident and the last few weeks have been really good.
"We've just got to keep training hard and when we get out on the field put our best foot forward and if the results keep falling our way it would be pleasing.
"It's going to be a great crowd up here in Brisbane and they're a quality team so it would be a great win for us."
For Jake and younger brother Tom a near sell-out Suncorp Stadium crowd and likely parochial support for their opposition on Saturday night will provide a taste of what a prospective Origin debut for New South Wales in Game One would feel like.
As a member of the victorious Kangaroos last weekend Jake will be firmly in the frame for selection by Blues coach Laurie Daley but his record at Suncorp Stadium to date makes for difficult reading.
In two games for the Sea Eagles' under-20s team he suffered two losses (52-36 and 30-28) while his two appearances in the top grade at the venue has seen the Broncos rack up wins to the tune of 44-10 and 30-6.
Despite Origin being just around the corner, Jake said that both he and Tom remain focused on performing for Manly, no matter how tempting it is to even consider taking part in rugby league's greatest arena.
"It would be a dream come true," Jake said of the prospect of he and his brother both playing for the Blues.
"It was a dream come true for us to play first grade together. It was a pretty special moment when I got to play in Tom's first grade debut but you don't want to think too much about that.
"Origin is a big stage and we've never played it before so we don't know what it's like or whether we're up to it so we just want to keep doing our best for Manly and see what happens.
"We just enjoy playing our footy for Manly and we want to keep winning for Manly.
"We need to get back into the finals. The last couple of years have been pretty disappointing for us so just focusing on playing good footy for Manly.
"If anything comes on the back of that it would be great."
