Mikey Breen admits that the prize of back-to-back All-Ireland titles has been mentioned in the Tipperary camp but can't be used as the main motivation for the group.
The Premier County have not won consecutive Liam MacCarthy Cups since the mid 1960s.
While they have reached the summit seven times from then until last year's win over Cork, they have not been able to back up those successes in the following seasons.
It's a feat that has been achieved by numerous Kilkenny, Cork and most recently Limerick sides and the famous Tipp side of 1965 still casts a shadow.
And last year's somewhat surprise All-Ireland victory has paved the way for Liam Cahill's men to make more history.
"Obviously, it's been mentioned. You can't hide away from it, it's there, it's very real," Tipperary's three-time All-Ireland winner Mikey Breen told RTÉ Sport.
"It hasn't been done in a long time. Of course, we'd love to be a team that does something like that, but it's not the sole motivation.
"The sole motivation is to work hard and get a really proud performance for ourselves and for the Tipp public as well, which is most important.
"You see when everybody in the county got behind the team last year as the Championship unfolded, there was a buzz and there was a connection between players on the field and the Tipp fans in the stands, which really [made us] proud to play in front of and, I suppose, proud for also the Tipp fans looking in."
The versatile Breen is among the senior players in the Tipperary squad with Celtic Crosses in his back pocket from 2016 and 2019.
The 2017 campaign saw a Munster quarter-final loss to Cork and an All-Ireland defeat to eventual champions Galway.
In 2020, it was Limerick who ended their provincial hopes in the semi-final, while the Tribesmen pipped them at the quarter-final of the All-Ireland series.
"It's very hard to put your finger on what didn't go well," said the Ballina clubman when asked if there was a common denominator in those campaigns.
"You look back in hindsight and you see maybe there were certain elements that we didn't properly get after.
"I don't know, it's one of the hardest things to do is back up an All-Ireland title.
"Most recently, Limerick were able to do it four times in a row, which is absolutely unbelievable. But there's so much quality out there in this Championship.
"You look at Munster alone, we haven't won a Munster Championship since 2016.
"So, number one, let's try and get out of Munster. Get a win in the first round and go from there.
"That's the first stage on the journey."
Tipperary finished third in Division 1A of the Allianz League after wins over Waterford, Offaly and Galway, defeats to Cork and Limerick, and a draw with the Cats last weekend.
They are now preparing for their opening Munster championship clash against Cork in Thurles on 19 April.
"We'd have been looking to get to a league final, but not the case this year," said the corner-back, a Kellogg's GAA Cúl Camps ambassador.
"I think it was a worthwhile exercise because we managed to bank a lot of work throughout the league.
"Maybe we had to do that coming back a little bit later this year with the holiday and all the formalities that went on after the All-Ireland.
"We're still looking to get a lot of work done.
"We have another three or four weeks to bank work and prepare for Cork on the 19th.
"Yeah, look, [starting as All-Ireland champions] is a different approach.
"You're coming in from a different angle, but I suppose you can't compare everything to last year.
"You can't say, 'oh, we did this, we have to do this exactly the same way'.
"We just have to look for continued improvement again and go year on year and add to what we were good at last year.
"I suppose we still have to bring forward all those positives and just try to sharpen the sword a small bit more."
Tipp won last year's final with an amazing second-half show of force against Cork when they rattled the Rebels with a stunning 3-14 in the last 35 minutes.
Cork had no response to the onslaught.
Breen reckons Ben O'Connor's side, who meet Limerick in Sunday's League final, will be a different proposition in four weeks' time.
"Absolutely, 100%," said the 31-year-old.
"We've had some great battles with them, and they've probably got the rub of the green more than we have on a couple of those occasions in the last year or so.
"Looking forward, it's going to be different.
"I suppose you can look at it in a number of ways.
"It'll be a different physical battle, tactical battle. There's always going to be things that are tried, and whether they come off or not, we'll see.
"Once we get our set of things in order, we'll be happy enough."
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