Finn Russell will earn his 96th Scotland cap against New Zealand
Such is the level of trepidation among Scotland fans as to what life will look like for their team in a post-Finn Russell world, the superstar fly-half has had to field questions for years now as to when he might think about hanging up the boots.
"I'm only 34 – you'd think I'm 44," Russell jokes on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast as he prepares for Scotland's Nations Championship showdown with the All Blacks at Murrayfield on Saturday.
"I'm feeling good just now. I think the year after the Lions takes a lot more out of the players than you think - mentally, physically, emotionally.
"It's a big, big high. It's a long season. I think to come back and play the next year as you had done the year before is quite tough.
"But this year I'm feeling much better. Fresher mentally, physically, feeling good going into this season and now I'm feeling good."
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The Lions tour of Australia last summer was Russell's third but the first in which he was the undisputed king of the 10 jersey. Leading the Lions to a series win down under was a fitting reward for one of the greatest players to ever pull on a Scottish jersey.
He laughs off questions about his career entering its final throes in typical Russell style, but there is a hint of frustration that the topic keeps coming up, probably because he feels there is so much left to do in the time he has left.
Title wins with Glasgow Warriors and Bath, a European final with Racing 92, three Lions tours and 95 caps for his country - Saturday will be his 100th international across Scotland and Lions Tests - is an impressive body of work, but finally winning something with the national team would surely top it all.
We know what Scotland can do at their best. They welcomed an England side on a 12-match winning run to Murrayfield in the last Six Nations and took them apart. They put 50-points on a French side that had looked on an unstoppable march to the Grand Slam.
They put seven tries on Argentina in Cordoba in the summer and, despite going down to South Africa the following week, the Scots ran in four tries and could have scored a few more as they gave the world champions an almighty scare in Pretoria.
At their best, they are a match for anyone, but their best often eludes them at the critical point in tournament rugby. How do Scotland make the step from a very good side to a title-winning one?
"It's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Russell responds to a question he has been asked many times before.
"From the summer, we were really good against Argentina when we got into the 22 and we were really good at executing there. The percentage was really high.
"We actually had more chances, I think, or more entries against South Africa, but the conversion rate was a lot lower, probably half of what we had against Argentina. So, how to capitalise and convert when you get into the 22 is probably the main growth that we need to have."
Finn Russell has faced New Zealand three times with Scotland without a victory
Such was the nature of rugby's somewhat elitist approach to the international calendar, when the top five or six teams sides would be allowed to carve up the schedule to play among themselves in the big summer Test series, Saturday will be just the fourth time Russell will have a crack at the All Blacks in 12-and-a-half years of international rugby.
The new Nations Championship format has changed all that and Scotland will get more exposure to the southern hemisphere heavyweights going forward, but the Bath fly-half knows opportunities to be part of the team that smashes the 121-year-old barren run against New Zealand are running out.
He will get at least one more after this when the Scots travel to Dunedin for their final match before next year's Rugby World Cup, but here is an opportunity on Saturday to ensure they to go to New Zealand for Scotland's first away match against the All Blacks in 27 years with the hoodoo already consigned to history.
Russell's three matches against the All Blacks have all been close defeats, each agonising in their own unique way, but he believes the Scots are better for the experiences.
"It'll be really exciting to play them again at Murrayfield," he says. "It's always a great occasion.
"Obviously, there's a lot of footage from the All Blacks from the last few months that they've been playing against South Africa and Australia, so we'll look into that. The boys know [head coach, formerly of Glasgow] Dave Rennie and [former Edinburgh head coach, now All Blacks assistant] Mike Blair really well.
"Knowing them, they'll have something up their sleeve to attack us and to defend us, but just prepping as best we can to try and rip in and kick on from the summer that we had.
"We've definitely got the belief, but it's about going in and delivering the product on the field, I suppose, and turning them over.
"It's all very well having the belief, but we need to get the results from that."
