After three rounds of the league and surveying the top of the Division 1 table, I'm tempted to lead with 'Connacht domination!' or 'Connacht supremacy!', though perhaps would be pushing it for February.
It does bode well that we do have three teams consistently competing at the top level - currently 1, 2 and 3 in the highest tier of Gaelic football. They've done their work thus far, they have the points. But it's a long season and nothing's handed out in February.
Roscommon are sitting pretty, looking down on everyone. The yo-yo tag has been buried for this year. They're getting a great consistency of performance, which traditionally had been a problem.
In my time as a player, Roscommon were always an unknown quantity - which made them a very dangerous opponent. But often you were never sure whether you were going to encounter a confident bunch who were in the mood - or a rusty team who weren't at the pitch of it.
I always remember a few years ago, in 2016, they played Cork and put 4-25 on them. A few weeks later, they were badly beaten by Kerry in a league semi-final and their championship season came apart a bit, almost losing to New York in Gaelic Park.
When we played them in the Covid championship in 2020, the game became akin to a dead rubber in the second half. It seemed the Roscommon boys lost interest and just wanted to get it over with and we ran out easy winners.
But now there's a consistency about them - and they're finishing games very strongly. They had patchy first halves against Galway and Armagh. But they're powering through in the fourth quarter of games. Against Tyrone, the contest had narrowed to a one-point game midway through the second half and they pushed the accelerator. The Galway game down the stretch, they were four behind, kicked the last five points. Even at the weekend, they kicked 1-02 to win it in the last quarter.
Ben O'Carroll has added a really dynamic element to their attacking play. He scored 0-02 at the weekend but got on a lot of ball, wasn't afraid to take his man on, drew a lot of frees. Ciaran Lennon was especially impressive, clipping over 0-02. They're no longer too reliant on Enda Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh to pull games out of the bag for them.
They're playing with huge confidence as well, you can see the trust between Davy Burke's management team and the players on the pitch. They've looked comfortable in tight games.
There was a good buzz in MacHale Park on Saturday night, Mayo's form obviously making positive headlines. Their fitness levels have been well documented and were thrown into relief against Kerry at the weekend, who as All-Ireland champions, naturally would be behind the curve at this point of the year.
Again, we keep hammering the point about their change in style of play, which is starting to bear fruit in attack.
When we played Kerry last year, we struggled with the Tadhg Morley effect. With his positioning, screening between the half-back and full-back line, he cut out a huge amount of supply into the forwards. We found it very hard to break down.
But last Saturday, when Mayo kept Aidan O'Shea up top, it took Morley out of his comfort zone, making it difficult for him to protect the full-back line. Mayo made hay up there, kicking 2-08 in a half of football and left a fair bit behind them.
Probably Mayo's biggest positive was Jordan Flynn. I know the work he puts in away from the bright lights. He came on as a sub in the 2021 final, last year in the league he was one of our more effective players, picked up a bad injury in the league final and that hampered him in the championship.
In the past, there was plenty of handwringing about his discipline and where his head was at. But he's still a young kid and has a lot of room for development.
Having played alongside him, I know exactly what he can bring to the Mayo squad. You get four scores from your wing-forward, that's a good day's work. And people are crying out for scoring forwards in Mayo.
Kerry have no need to push the panic button, albeit they have a tricky game against Armagh at the weekend. I suppose what Saturday underlined was the importance of keeping the two boys - Clifford and O'Shea - fit for the year ahead.
Elsewhere in the west, there was a lot of negative talk around Galway, which Padraic Joyce nipped in the bud at the weekend, remarking that they had only lost one game.
The big plus for Galway is obviously the amount of depth they've added to their ranks. Damien Comer, Shane Walsh, Rob Finnerty all out, Liam Silke has travelled, Kieran Molloy is injured. And yet they're still picking up three points out of six in their first three games.
You can see why Joyce is quietly content with their progress. They're going to be a force to be reckoned with. They got a taste for it in 2022 and they look hungry and sharp.
Glancing at the table, it suggests we could be looking at a Roscommon-Mayo league final in early April. But you've got to ask the question - would either team want that seven days out from their Connacht championship opener in Castlebar?
If we do wind up with a Mayo-Roscommon league final - seven days before they collide in the championship in Castlebar (9 April) - it would just be a dummy game really. A complete dead rubber of a league final.
I think Colm Boyle nailed it when he said it's a league that nobody wants to win. That's the sad reality of it.
It's the clear consensus among all the managers that their priority is safety. Once that's assured, they aren't especially concerned about the league and thoughts turn to championship coming fast down the tracks.
Maybe if there was a three-week gap between the league and championship, players might be more minded to go full-tilt at a league final. Would such a gap have big ramifications for the club season? I don't think so.
Two teams who were on the rack this week - and of whom I was quite critical in recent columns - were Monaghan and Kildare, both of whom came away with big wins.
It was great to see two teams react in the way they did. Monaghan obviously benefitted partly from Donegal's woes, with Paddy McBrearty now ruled out for the duration of the league. But that's not to take away from Monaghan's performance and the fact that they remain Division 1's great survivors.
And you don't know when it comes down to the last game. Conor McManus came on late, first two touches were two marks, two points. It just shows that bit of quality always makes the difference.
Kildare didn't lead against Clare until the 76th minute but that was the only time that mattered. You have to give them full credit for sticking with it, in the face of big pressure. And it could be the starting point of their season.
