There's a large banner photograph on the wall behind the reception desk when you walk into the Bay of Plenty Steamers' engine room at Blake Park.

It's a picture of 15 glistening and beaming young men in blue and gold hoops.

It was August 15, 2004 and this unfancied bunch had just slipped furtively into Eden Park and stolen the Ranfurly Shield from Auckland. Oh the delight. It was a Sunday and the Gods had smiled on us. But that was almost 13 years ago to the day.

'There have been some lean years since,” says a reflective but positive-to-the-core Steamers coach Clayton McMillan on the eve of another Mitre 10 season. 'You may have seen some improvement, we all have. But we are just craving for a little bit more.”

That day in 2004, the now whistler Glen Jackson kicked penalties, conversions, a drop goal and scored a try. Scored every which way, every way possible in fact, as Bay of Plenty beat Auckland 33-28.

And today in 2017 McMillan is wishing for success any which way. No caveats, just expectations.

'The bottom line is everyone in our division wants to win promotion. That's my ultimate goal and how that is achieved is irrelevant to me as long as it's achieved.” It would help settle a debt the coach feels he has. 'Our stakeholders and our supporters – we owe it to them.”

It's McMillan's job to move BOP rugby to a better place. 'It takes a couple of years to embed things, create a culture and assemble a squad that is truly yours. We have achieved that and from a personal perspective I am entering the season with high expectations from this group and myself – that we deliver more than the promise and improvement we have shown over the past couple of years.”

And this is where McMillan demonstrates a coach's consummate artfulness. Mark Twain once said ‘facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable'.

The stubborn undeniable facts are the Steamers finished fourth equal in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship last year with three wins and seven losses. 'The win-loss ratio wasn't fantastic,” admits McMillan.

But the stats are pliable and the coach bends and manipulates with aplomb. 'When we got to the end of the season our average losing margin across the whole season was 6.3 points. The previous season was something like 25 points.”

He's right – when they won it was close, when they lost it was close. Everyone in the Bay shared his disappointment and frustration. 'It was a fine line between success and failure. If we judge ourselves on the win-loss ratio it was failure, but our expectations are higher this year.”

And they did score the second most tries in the competition and played an attractive brand of rugby.

It's that anxious, unenviable time for a coach. The first game of the season against Northland in Whangarei is on Sunday and this reporter is demanding him be soothsayer, demanding him to bare his soul. He politely fields the questions and runs them back at you.

'Yep, sleep is a bit of a luxury at the moment,” says the coach. ”But not because I am stressing over things, more because of all the ideas floating round in my head. I deal with things best by getting up early and getting to work.”

But there's a little inner turmoil. 'Have you done enough, have you selected the right team, getting a gauge on trends, looking at the opposition, where they have improved and opportunities defensively and offensively for you.”

And look at the opposition, look at the ‘cattle' he's up against – there's certainly some prime beef in the way. 'Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Otago, Manawatu, some of these teams are stacked with super rugby players. It's bloody hard.”

But not impossible. 'I have always said, Bay of Plenty Rugby is synonymous with have a go – playing with innovation and flair. That's something we try to embrace.”

The reporter uses the word helter-skelter. The coach diplomatically puts the reporter right – that's his style – statesmanlike in a rugby way. He doesn't say as much but he obviously doesn't like helter-skelter. 'That was the way the game unfolded – probably because of the experimental rule variations.”

So systematic rather than helter-skelter – innovation and flair rather than headlong and hasty.

'And we have good continuity with the squad, we have been able to push forward. If we want to make comparisons to where we are with our preparations, we are a lot further advanced than we were last year, and the same could be said for last year on the year before.”

Either way it's a 'bloody hard” competition. ‘Bloody' is as vehement as he gets – forceful rather than vehement is his style. 'And one per cent on or off can be the difference between winning and losing.”

He wants 'one per cent on” this Sunday against Northland in Whangarei. 'Bloody tough first game.” There he goes again.

'To be perfectly honest,” says McMillan. And you would only expect an ex-cop and ex-Bay of Plenty captain with 100 caps to be perfectly honest. 'To be perfectly honest,” he continues. 'It might have been easier playing one of the heavyweights because the expectation is lower and you just go out and express yourself.”

Rene Ranger's back for Northland, as well as the Crusaders' midfielder Jack Goodhue and his brother Josh and the Pryor brothers. 'On paper a bloody good side.”

There's a bit of excitement in Whangarei, something special brewing. 'We respect that and we're not going up there thinking it will be easy.” May the percentages be with the Steamers come Sunday at 2.35pm.