Leo Cullen stressed that "complacency" wasn't the right word to describe Leinster's season-ending defeat to the Vodacom Bulls on Friday night, but it's likely his mind was wandering down that path.
The pattern is now clear across three seasons for Ireland's most successful province.
On their day, they are probably the best club side in Europe, as they showed by scything down Toulouse and Leicester Tigers with the most minimal of fuss.
But it's impossible to play at that level all the time, and when Leinster are off the mark, particularly on the big occasions, they've struggled to play a wild card.
You can go back as far as 2020 and the Champions Cup quarter-final defeat to Saracens, or the 2021 semi-final defeat to La Rochelle, as well as this year's losses in Europe and the URC.
When they win, they win in style, but when they lose it's often down to their inability to grind it out.
In the wake of Friday night's URC semi-final defeat to the Bulls at the RDS, which ended their run of four straight titles, it was put to Cullen that there are similarities to their big play-off defeats in recent seasons.
Is there something to that theory, or is the analysis lazy?
"No, it's not a wrong analysis because there are similarities in terms of how some of those teams set up the game," Cullen admitted.
"It’s one of the great debates really. There is that type of squeeze rugby. You saw it in the Lions against South Africa and that was two teams trying to play that pressure rugby game.
"That's not necessarily our DNA and there are lots of different factors.
"How the game is refereed plays a part in that and some of those big turnovers, particularly when the conditions deteriorate a bit as well, and how we manage that as a team, as a coaching group and how we message."
That type of game isn't Leinster's style, but they're making steps to address it by moving Andrew Porter over to loosehead and drafting in Munster's big South African lock Jason Jenkins, as well as Lyon's Charlie Ngatai, whose arrival is likely to be confirmed shortly.
And Cullen accepts that if a game is to be decided by close-quarter rugby, they have to be better at dealing with it.
"We want to be able to play a more ambitious attacking game because there are other factors, trying to get season ticket holders to come and watch the games, etc.
"You need to have both parts to your game because if it turns into an arm wrestle you need to be able to play that type of game as well.
"That’s the part that we will always question ourselves, but we want to stay true to the DNA of Leinster rugby as well.
"That’s the challenge for us. We need to be a bit more accurate in executing our game because when we get our game right against even a power-based team we can be a match for anyone.
"That’s the bit: be at our best on the biggest days. Unfortunately we weren’t today and that’s the bit we need to reflect on from an individual and collective sense."
For Friday night's captain James Ryan, this will be his first season in the senior Leinster ranks that won't end with a trophy.
The second-row spent 10 minutes of the second half in the sin-bin after being caught dragging down a maul, resulting in the third Bulls try.
The biggest regret for the 25-year-old is the number of chances Leinster left out on the field.
Unlike the Champions Cup final against La Rochelle where they lived off scraps and kept their head above water by chipping over penalties, this was a game in which Leinster had multiple chances in opposition territory.
And Ryan says he accepts a portion of the blame for that.
"It's just being at our best on the big days, being accurate on the big days and we weren’t," he said.
"We definitely had chances to win that game, I can think of several examples when we were five, 10 metres from their tryline and they stole the ball in the air.
"I called the lineouts this week, I’ve got to take responsibility for that and make sure the next time we’re playing on the big day the basics are nailed on, whether it’s the ruck or the other things Leo mentioned.
"We weren’t quite at it today and we have to take a long, hard look at ourselves."
With just 13 days separating the Bulls defeat and their Champions Cup final loss to La Rochelle in Marseille, it's been a draining couple of weeks emotionally as well as physically.
But Ryan was reluctant to accept there would have been any mental fatigue lingering in the squad over the past fortnight.
"I'm not sure to be honest," he added.
"Like, it's been a long season but we were very excited heading into this week, having a semi-final at home and a potential opportunity to play a final at home with supporters back in the stadium, that doesn't happen very often.
"So I think there was plenty of excitement there but yeah, we just weren't good enough, the Bulls were a lot better than us on the day."
What will be a concern for Cullen and his coaching team over the summer is the pattern that when things don't go right for his side, they tend to go wrong, with nothing in between.
They've made themselves victims of their own success, winning so many games by big margins that a close scoreline is an unfamiliar feeling. Ronan O'Gara hinted as much following the European final, revealing their research had showed the final 20 minutes was where Leinster were at their most vulnerable.
Of their 28 games this season, just eight were one-score matches, with Leinster losing six of those, their only wins being a dour 7-6 win away to the Dragons in Round 2, and a five-point win against Connacht in the first leg of the Champions Cup last 16.
It's a first-world problem to have, but one only they can address.
Coming into the Bulls semi-final they thrashed the Glasgow Warriors by 62 points a week earlier, in a game that probably offered less than a training session in terms of competitive edge.
In the immediate aftermath of that game, even Cullen admitted it was far from ideal preparation for a semi-final.
Privately, Bulls director of rugby Jake White was probably licking his lips as he watched the defending champions get buttered up by the Warriors, but publicly the former Springboks coach played down the notion that Leinster's blade had been blunted.
He said: "What it [the Glasgow game] did do is show me that Leinster were on the rebound after what happened the week before, good sides do that, good sides show their pain by bouncing back the next week. That's part of what I shared with our players.
"I didn't expect anything other than a big drubbing against the next team that had to come here after La Rochelle.
"I don't think it has any significance of how they played today. There was enough hurt, and the chance they let slip by not beating La Rochelle., whoever was going to come here would get that performance.
"I suppose in some ways it's good when you're not on the rebound, because you get them a week later, but I don't think because they got it so easy last week that they took their foot off the gas this week."
Only a fool would think Leinster are headed for barren land, based off this season's end.
The conveyor belt of talent continues to roll, and it's hard to see past the four-time European champions being outside of title contention on both fronts again next year.
The last time their season ended empty-handed, they came back and won the double.
"There is a tonne of talent here," added Cullen.
"There has been lots of positive bits in the season in bringing guys through and I strongly believe the group will be strong next year. The young guys will kick on even further. There is plenty of experience.
"Sometimes its no harm you go through games like this to really appreciate the big days and what’s involved.
"The players just need to drive it on now, there’s plenty of experience in the group and a good mix of old, experienced guys who’ve had some positive and negative experiences and you need those negative experiences sometimes to build the pain and the resilience and the rest.
"You lose to La Rochelle at the end, that was a tough one to take. Today, there’s things in our control that we can be better at.
"Everyone has to self-reflect on that, there’s things we can all be better at and that’s the bit that probably stings the most.
"Credit to the Bulls, they came with a good plan. But we played the Bulls at the start of the season, did we all think 'OK, this is naturally going to happen for us?’
"The downpour before the game, I’m starting to get a bit nervous – did we have the right energy?
"You need to get everything right, on and off the pitch, so there’s some painful lessons for us again."
Watch highlights of the weekend's URC action on Against the Head, 8pm, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
