Eddie Brennan believes Tipperary will come out all guns blazing against Kilkenny on Saturday to maintain the "psychological edge" they gained by blowing the Cats away in last September's All-Ireland SHC final.
Michael Ryan's charges were irresistible in Croke Park on the first Sunday in September, sweeping to a nine-point victory and announcing themselves as the finest team in the country.
They've brought that form into the spring, sitting top of Allianz Hurling League Division 1A having won three from three.
Kilkenny in contrast only picked up their first two points with a 0-22 to 0-15 defeat of Cork last weekend and have shipped some heavy criticism.
Brennan - an eight-time Al-Ireland winner under Cody - admits the Premier look a class apart right now, and predicted another strong showing at Semple Stadium.
“They look to be the real deal at the moment," he told RTE 2fm's Game On.
"They are All-Ireland champions, and they look like they’re going to kick on a little bit. Michael Ryan has built a good squad there.
"There’s massive competition, something that I know serves very well from when we were going strongly. A pillar of Brian Cody’s was to have that competition for places.
“They just look quality. There’s a slight concern that’s shared in Kilkenny at the moment. We’re going up there with a real difficult task with a lot at stake.
"I’m not throwing in the towel in any way shape or form... but Tipp look like they’re in a position now where they’ll want to consolidate the psychological edge they gained over Kilkenny since the All-Ireland final; they won’t want to give a yard over that.
"I think you’re going to see very, very strong Tipperary team starting on Saturday night."
Kilkenny did finally get their campaign up and running pulling away from the Rebels with a strong second-half display at Nowlan Park.
It was a desperately needed shot in the arm.
“It was a good workmanlike performance, " Brennan added. "They just needed that. Brian Cody will be just pleased with the attitude and application.
“It was just to get up and running. It now means they have two points, whereas if they were heading to Tipp with nothing then you’d almost be resigned to the fact that you’re fighting a relegation battle maybe against Dublin or maybe against Cork."
Brennan also suggested a radical overhaul of the league that would involve ditching the provincial championships as well as the early-year pre-season tournaments, offering counties a summer reward for performing well in the spring: "I'd love to see a ten-team league. Scrap the January competitions and run in your league, and have little breaks in it.
"I'd like to see the possibility of removing the provincials and have a big league system where [for] the top four or five, there's a reward for doing well in the league, maybe seed you for the championship.
"If you have a system where you have ten teams, home and away matches, it maybe feeds into a better championship.
"I think the system as it currently stands is not doing much good."
