Eamonn Fitzmaurice says it's in the Kerry make-up to be ruthless when they face underdogs ahead of the Kingdom's Munster SFC semi-final against Tipperary on Saturday afternoon.
The reigning All-Ireland champions are fully expected to get past the Premier and progress to a decider against either Limerick or Clare, who clash in the other last-four tie.
The last time the Tipp footballers beat Kerry in Munster was back in the summer of 1928.
The counties met in the 2016 provincial final, when Kerry prevailed by 3-17 to 2-10, but Tipp have lost some quality players recently including Bill Maher [currently lining out with New York], the injured Conor Gleeson and Michael Quinlivan, who has gone travelling.
A huge challenge therefore becomes all the tougher, but Kerry will not be dwelling on the misfortune of their opponents, Fitzmaurice warned.
"The Munster Championship... it was looked down on," the former Kerry manager told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"To be fair, Tipperary, Clare and Cork were all kind of a similar standard there for a while, which was a decent standard. They'd actually do quite well in a lot of provinces but because they were coming up against Kerry year in, year out, they weren't able to make that bit of progress.
"I think we played Clare nearly every season there for a while in Munster semi-finals. They never got to go to the other side of the draw and possibly make a Munster final.
"Tipperary have [lost key players]. They were a good team.
"This weekend, Kerry are going to win. But within the Kerry camp they are going to be very focused.
"They're going to give Tipperary 100% respect and 100% attention. That's the way we always approached those games regardless of the opposition or even the team winning. You're thinking about your own spot and where you are in the pecking order as an individual player.
"If you're getting a [starting] jersey, you've to hold onto it because you know there's at least one, if not two or three fellas, looking for that jersey."
Fitzmaurice offered an insight into what will drive Kerry this weekend as they approach the first hurdle in their defence of Sam Maguire.
"Kerry will be very motivated this weekend. I imagine after the league, which was so disjointed, they'll be anxious to get up and running and start going in the right direction.
"After the game you'd always be honest if you felt that it was maybe a bit easier than you expected beforehand.
"Certainly beforehand you're going to be ready for a challenge and expecting the opposition to be bringing everything, and that you'll have to be at your best as an individual and as a team to win.
"We always used to say, backs in particular, the opposition will always have one forward who will play well and you don't want to be the back who is getting the roasting.
"I remember we played Kilkenny in the league one time. I won't say who it was but one of the lads got a bit of a roasting above in Kilkenny and he's still living it down! You don't want to be that fella."
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