Death, taxes and the Crusaders reigning supreme in Super Rugby.
Weighing up every measure, it's hard to conclude any team can stop the Christchurch-based juggernaut bagging a 10th title this season, seven more than any other team has managed.
Arguably boasting a legacy without peer in Australasian professional sport, Scott Robertson looks poised to make it three from three under his stewardship.
The charismatic coach has virtually the same roster at his disposal, built around an All Blacks-laden pack and decorated by some of the finest young backs in the world.
Richie Mo'unga, Jack Goodhue and George Bridge were attacking dynamos in a team who finished 12 points clear on last year's table.
They cut a swathe through the finals, stomping the Sharks, Hurricanes and Lions by at least 18 points and prompting an ominous verdict from the losing coaches on each occasion - that the Crusaders were on another level.
A need to keep All Blacks fresh in a World Cup year might cramp Robertson's plans, with key forwards Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Codie Taylor required to sit out most of the opening month.
If the men in red and black are to be stopped, it seems inevitable another Kiwi team will snare the silverware.
Four of the top five teams in last year's overall standings were from New Zealand.
All four of them - the Crusaders, Hurricanes, Chiefs and Highlanders - have bagged titles over the past seven years.
The exception has been the Blues, who haven't even made the playoffs in that time. But even they look set to mount a challenge in 2019.
Long-suffering coach Tana Umaga has demoted himself to an assistant role in a key off-season manoeuvre.
It is hoped his replacement Leon MacDonald can inject the winning qualities he had displayed in a playing and coaching career at the Crusaders.
An intriguing addition to the Blues' roster is decorated former All Black Ma'a Nonu, back from France and set to complete a high-profile midfield combination with Sonny Bill Williams.
All Blacks are sprinkled through the other Kiwi sides, not least at the Hurricanes, where playmaker Beauden Barrett again is central to their hopes.
New coach John Plumtree won't want to stifle the attacking style that had helped winger Ben Lam to score a competition-record 16 tries last year.
The Chiefs must overcome the departure of several senior figures overseas and the neck injury to Sam Cane which rules the Test flanker out of the first two months at least.
Brodie Retallick claims the captaincy, while the playmaking wizardry of Damian McKenzie looks set to determine whether the Chiefs reach the semi-finals for an eighth-straight season.
The Highlanders need to cater for the departure to England of five-eighth Lima Sopoaga if they're to go further than last year's elimination-final exit to the NSW Waratahs in an inexplicable second-half meltdown.
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