Former Waratahs coach Michael Cheika was known for his unorthodox preparation methods during his time in Sydney, but even the now-Argentina boss might be a tad surprised by the lengths Darren Coleman went to overnight to ready his side for Round 1 against the Brumbies.
The Waratahs will return to their spiritual Moore Park after a nomadic existence over the past three seasons while Allianz Stadium was knocked down and then rebuilt, NSW moving between Brookvale Oval, Win Stadium at Wollongong, and Bankwest Stadium at Parramatta, before they last year played the majority of their home games at Leichhardt Oval.
Coleman set his team the challenge of "filling the hill" at the home of the once-mighty Balmain Tigers, and by the time they had suffered a narrow loss to the Blues in their final game in the inner west the Waratahs had just about done that.
But heading back to the rebuilt Allianz Stadium there is a fair degree of unfamiliarity across the squad, with only a handful of players having faced the Springboks at the venue with the Wallabies last year, while multiple members of the Waratahs squad had never even set foot on the old Allianz Stadium turf.
So, what better way to familiarise yourself with the surroundings than to roll out a swag and spend the night?
"I actually enjoyed it, it was interesting I thought," Waratahs captain Jake Gordon told ESPN at Australia's Super Rugby Pacific launch on Wednesday. "We had someone come in and talk to us, Nathan Grey, who's been inspirational for the Waratahs before and he's a guy that left everything out on the field, he had a few words to us, then we watched a movie and we moved our way out on to the wet Allianz field.
"We got over it pretty quick, me and Lachie Swinton shared a swag together, we're roommates too so we're pretty familiar with each other. But it was a great exercise, it rained halfway through so that got a bit iffy, but the boys got on with it.
"I'm from Newtown, so I don't have a swag. We tried to get one off Ned [Hanigan], he's got about 10 at home, but he wasn't too keen to share with us. We got one off one of the other country boys, but it was the first time I'd ever been in a swag; but probably the last time with Swinno as well."
Big on connection, Coleman's logic has been to immerse his players in what it means to be a Waratah, the sleepover following an earlier former players' lunch where NSW legends mingled with the current playing group over a casual bite and a few beers.
Unlike in previous years, the Waratahs will play all seven of their home games at Allianz Stadium, with Coleman wanting to recreate the halcyon days of the late 90s and early 2000s when over 30,000 people would routinely flock to Moore Park to watch the team play.
While that may be a stretch for Round 1 - though Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham also joined the rallying call for a 30,000-plus crowd for the local derby - it's clear Coleman is desperate to continue the progress he made in 2022 in reconnecting the Waratahs with the NSW rugby community.
The story of their sleepover, which he admits was bit of a novelty, should only help that.
"Obviously people have heard about the sleepover, that was the gimmicky part that will get most press, but overall it was a good connection piece for us," Coleman told ESPN. "We went there in the afternoon and we toured, the players got to check out the corporate facilities, the coaches' boxes, even as important as where their parents and partners will sit to watch them play.
"We then trained on it, we hadn't trained on it at all, then we went to our season launch with all our sponsors and that was awesome, and then we came down and watched a documentary around the history and the making of the Sydney Football Stadium, which was really interesting. Everything from the legends that have been on the Sydney Football Stadium, even back to the old Sydney Sports Ground, through to the engineering and the architecture of the place, the Indigenous seat designs, all that sort of stuff, it was awesome.
"And then we had Nathan Grey, there's no more passionate Waratah who bled on that field, and Greysie spoke to the team about what it meant for him. And then we took swags or sleeping bags, whatever they wanted to bring and we camped, and it was all going swimmingly until 2am when the rain and the weak scampered for the changerooms and the strong toughed it out."
While the Waratahs dropped their closing two games at Leichhardt, to the Hurricanes and Blues, respectively, the sight of a near-full hill on the ground's eastern side was a far cry from a team that had seen its crowds dwindle in a winless 2021 season.
And Gordon knows how important it is to continue that momentum, as the Waratahs pursue their lofty goal of a top-four finish.
"As a stadium we want to crowd it, I think that's really important to us, we need to carry that momentum from last year," he told ESPN. "I think you saw some really good crowds at Leichhardt and we really enjoyed our time there, I thought it was a great spectacle.
"And we want to do the same at Allianz, it's in a sporting precinct there. You've got Paddo around the corner, you're right next to the city, there [are] pubs, there is some great food for the purists, you've got Toddy's now for all the middle aged men and women that want to get down to the game and see a few guys roll around in rugby shorts.
"But it's exciting, you've got a bit of a vibe down there and if we can start well against the Brumbies we should be able to carry that through the year."