Nathan Brown experienced the weight of expectation as much as anyone at St George Illawarra, and now he's watching it return from afar in Newcastle.
A noted player and coach at both the original Dragons and joint venture, Brown was part of a group that played four grand finals in the 1990s without lifting the trophy once.
He also took them to two preliminary finals in 2005 and 2006, but failed to advance to a decider in either of those seasons.
Since then the Dragons took the title in 2010 under Wayne Bennett, but failed to win a finals match since despite leading the competition ladder at times in 2011, 2015 and 2017.
History has repeated this year with Brown watching a new batch of Saints learning the hard way as they dropped from first to sixth after six losses in the past eight weeks, heading into Saturday's clash with Newcastle.
"The expectation and ghosts of the past have probably carried a fair bit of weight at the Dragons for a long time," Brown said.
"With that expectation comes a fair amount of criticism. All the people in the higher positions there have been there for a long time and know what comes of it.
"It's a bit different for the players. Some of the players that came into the club might not have understood it as much but they're certainly getting an indication now."
The contrasting expectations on Brown's Knights and at the Dragons - his former club - have never been clearer than in recent weeks.
Dragons players were booed and abused off the field last weekend at Kogarah following their 38-0 loss to Canterbury.
Meanwhile the Knights are expecting 25,000 fans to pack into McDonald Jones Stadium for Saturday's game for Old Boys' Day, despite Newcastle sitting 11th on the ladder and out of finals contention after three consecutive wooden spoons.
"There are a lot of football people in Newcastle who know the starting spot we're in and where we're moving to," Brown said.
"The results certainly don't scare the fans away here if the players and club are improving."
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