So, looking at the points table this early is almost irrelevant. It is like a Ken Ring weather forecast.
This time last year, the Highlanders were on top of the ladder. And they ended up ninth.
If only they were ninth at the moment. They ain't. They are dead last. Three games, three losses.
It was not supposed to be this way. The squad had a dozen past or present internationals and looked to be the team to beat in the competition. Expectations were - quite rightly - massive.
But injuries, bad luck and outright bad play have combined to send the Highlanders to the cellar.
Without a doubt, injuries have played a huge part.
Key players such as Tamati Ellison, Ma'a Nonu and Brad Thorn have missed games. Take senior players out of any side and it is a struggle.
Ellison's absence has been more of a blow than expected. He was undervalued by many last year but is one of the best backs in the country.
Nonu has played only once, while Thorn missed the first game but has returned with some might. Tony Woodcock is warming to his work but he is a guy who is never going to burst out of the blocks. Colin Slade showed some potential last Friday night but needs some miles on the clock.
If the side can get all its best players on the paddock at one time, all firing, then it could be quite a team. One wonders if that will ever happen.
Good players make a difference in a tight game. They know when to throw the pass, take the tackle or kick the ball.
One of the major problems for the Highlanders in this first month is some players are just off form, not performing or just not quite up to it at this level.
Lima Sopoaga had a shocker against the Cheetahs and was yanked before halftime with the game lost.
Joe Wheeler is not Adam Thomson. Plain and simple. Thomson was pretty much irreplaceable, and the first three games have shown how much he has been missed.
Jake Paringatai looked impressive in club rugby a decade ago but that was, yes, a decade ago. And club rugby.
Maybe that is the problem. The Highlanders' hard workers, the grafters, the non-stars you could say, are making key errors at key times which are costing games.
But the team could so easily have a two-win, one-loss record.
In 2011, when Jamie Joseph came on board, the Highlanders won three straight games to start the season. Win No 3 was over the Bulls in Pretoria. That came when Thomson scored a dodgy try early on which should have been referred to the man upstairs but was not.
Then, when the Bulls were pressing to score the winning try at the end, prop Jamie Mackintosh blatantly cheated by putting an arm through a ruck to force a knock-on. He got away with it.
Against the Chiefs last month, a dropped ball turned a possible Highlanders try into a Chiefs seven-pointer.
In the match against the Hurricanes, the Highlanders conceded a try which started from a charge-down where the ball could have gone anywhere. It went to a Hurricane.
That is how it goes sometimes. You need some luck. It will come for the Highlanders. But it is not calling into the Highlanders' house at the moment.
Is it panic time?The team which finished in the sixth and final spot in the playoffs last year - the Sharks - had six losses last year.
So, the Highlanders have some wriggle room, slight that it is. It is not time - yet - to signal panic stations.
But they have yet to leave this country and yet to play the Crusaders or Blues. Those panic stations are not far away if they do not start winning. That needs to happen against the Chiefs this Friday.
