Saints 2020/21: Tom Vickers' season preview

But this year and the build-up to this campaign is, of course, unlike anything we have known before.

And although rugby fans will be looking forward to more distractions from the darkness of another national lockdown, you can't escape the flat feeling that accompanies this big kick-off.

Supporters wearing black, green and gold should be trudging to games to see their team in the weeks and months to come, but that is not possible right now.

International stars won't be lighting up the league for some time as they have commitments elsewhere.

And Saints' finish to last season is another buzz-kill, with supporters understandably approaching the new Premiership campaign with some trepidation.

Confidence appeared to drain from the team week by week after the loss to London Irish in late January.

And the first lockdown, rather than reversing fortunes, simply set Saints even further back.

They slipped from top spot in December to eighth place when the regular season reached its conclusion.

And even though they delivered a gutsy and at times dominant display at Sandy Park, their Champions Cup hopes ended at the quarter-final stage with a defeat to eventual double winners Exeter Chiefs.

The west country side will again be the ones to beat this time round, while Saints will settle for simply beating anyone as early as possible at the start of this new campaign.

A lengthy Friday night trip to Sale Sharks is hardly the start they would have wanted to the season, as the AJ Bell Stadium is far from a happy hunting ground at the best of times.

And there will be no new players to boost the squad and freshen things up after a run of 14 defeats from the past 15 matches - including the farcical final-day forfeit at Gloucester.

But in a time when positives are far from free-flowing, let us try to find some.

This Saints squad may not have shown it much in recent months, but they have real potential in their ranks.

When they play with pizzazz, they are capable of troubling any team.

And fans will just be praying that the coaches have been able to inject some self-belief into the squad ahead of this rapid return to action.

The injury list, which was so long towards the end of last season, should begin to ease, bringing key men back into the first-team picture.

And after Saints suffered late last season, they won't be losing as many players to international duty as they may have expected to.

Other clubs will be affected far more, giving the Saints squad a chance to show their ability.

But the greatest quality they can display is character.

Character to lift the gloom that built up around the Gardens in the second half of last season.

This is a new season, a clean slate.

It's time to wipe away the events of recent months and hope for brighter days ahead.

It won't be easy, but when has it ever been for a team from Northampton.

They know how to do things the hard way, and the situation that awaits them at the start of this season certainly falls into that category.