Pre-season is over. The experiments, fitness work and friendlies have served their purpose. On Saturday afternoon, we finally get our first competitive look at the new Sheffield Wednesday.
The Owls welcome Bolton Wanderers to Hillsborough in the first round of the Carabao Cup, with Henrik Pedersen's extensively rebuilt squad taking to the field for the first time with something tangible at stake.
There has been plenty to digest over the summer. New ownership has brought stability and structure back to a club that desperately needed both, while the squad has undergone a substantial overhaul ahead of life in League One.
Barry Bannan is back. Billy Mitchell, Callum Slattery, Ricardo Santos, Sil Swinkels, Louie Barry, Mason Burstow and others have arrived as Wednesday have attempted to construct a side capable of competing towards the top end of the division.
Now we get to see what it actually looks like.
Friendlies are behind us
Wednesday's pre-season results have inevitably generated discussion, not least the 4-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic in the final public outing.
But there comes a point when pre-season has to be left where it belongs.
Results in July and early August can provide clues, but teams are managing fitness, experimenting with systems and introducing new players. Saturday is different.
For the first time, Pedersen will be selecting a Sheffield Wednesday side for a competitive fixture with his new squad at his disposal.
The intensity will be different. The atmosphere will be different. Most importantly, the consequences will be different.
That doesn't mean 90 minutes against Bolton will suddenly provide definitive answers about Wednesday's promotion credentials. Patrick McKenna made that point in his recent WAWAW.NEWS article, Keeping Perspective as a Rebuild Continues.
This is a huge rebuild. A significant number of players have arrived in a relatively short period and relationships across the pitch will take time to develop.
There will almost certainly be setbacks along the way.
But Saturday is where the assessment can properly begin.
A proper opening test
Bolton should provide exactly that.
The two clubs effectively swapped divisions at the end of last season. Wednesday dropped into League One following an extraordinary campaign dominated by administration, points deductions and a severely depleted squad, while Bolton earned promotion back to the Championship through the play-offs.
Steven Schumacher's side finished fifth before navigating the play-offs and emphatically beating Stockport County 4-1 at Wembley.
That gives Wanderers something Wednesday cannot yet possess: continuity from a successful campaign.
Bolton have strengthened over the summer but retain a core group accustomed to Schumacher's methods, and they arrive at Hillsborough having ended pre-season with a 1-0 victory over NAC Breda.
In Bolton's official match preview, Schumacher described Wednesday as a tough test and made clear that Wanderers intend to progress.
Pedersen has been equally clear that Wednesday are treating this as a game they want to win.
New faces, new combinations
Perhaps the greatest fascination for Wednesday fans will simply be seeing how all the pieces fit together.
There are genuine selection decisions across the pitch.
The midfield has been transformed, with Bannan returning alongside the arrivals of Mitchell and Slattery. Further forward, Louie Barry adds pace and creativity, while Hull City loanee Mason Burstow gives Pedersen another option through the middle.
At the other end, Ricardo Santos and Sil Swinkels are among the defensive additions, while Wednesday have also significantly strengthened their goalkeeping options during the summer.
Individual names are exciting, but the bigger question is how quickly they can become a team.
Can Wednesday press effectively as a unit?
Can they control possession while still carrying a threat?
How will Pedersen balance Bannan's creativity with the energy and defensive qualities elsewhere in midfield?
And after the difficulties of last season, can Wednesday begin turning Hillsborough back into somewhere visiting teams dislike coming?
Those questions will take more than one afternoon to answer, but Bolton should give us our first meaningful evidence.
Familiar opponents
There is also a little recent history between the sides.
Wednesday and Bolton met at the same stage of this competition last August in a remarkable game at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
Despite Wednesday's difficulties at the time, a youthful Owls side drew 3-3 before progressing 4-2 on penalties.
Twelve months later, the circumstances surrounding Sheffield Wednesday could hardly be more different.
Last year's cup meeting took place against a backdrop of uncertainty and crisis.
This time Wednesday enter the competition with new owners, a rebuilt squad and optimism about where the club might be heading.
That doesn't guarantee success, but it makes Saturday considerably more intriguing than a routine first-round cup tie.
What should we be looking for?
First and foremost, a performance.
Of course we want Wednesday in the second round. Pedersen wants it too, and beginning the season with a win would provide an immediate boost before the League One campaign gets underway.
But this team isn't a finished product.
If Wednesday show organisation, intensity and signs of the football Pedersen wants to play, that will represent progress regardless of whether everything immediately clicks.
The important thing is that from Saturday onwards we are judging the real thing.
No more caveats about fitness work.
No more experiments for the sake of experiments.
No more dwelling on friendly results.
Competitive Sheffield Wednesday are back.
And after everything that has changed at Hillsborough over the last few months, Saturday afternoon should tell us more than any friendly could.
WAWAW.NEWS prediction
Bolton arrive as the more settled side and will provide a serious examination, but Wednesday have recruited well and home advantage should help.
Expect a close game between two sides still finding their feet after the summer.
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Bolton Wanderers