Reds Director of coaching Ewen McKenzie believes that they can burst the Brumbies balloon and knock their season off course if they can deliver an upset in Canberra on Saturday.
The Brumbies are confident that they have their best team selected and that new signings such as David Pocock can take them one step further this season and into the play offs.
Brumbies coach Jake White has been typically bullish about his team's potential this season and has been talking up their pre-season preparation.
Reds Boss McKenzie says that the Brumbies have set themselves up for a big fall by talking up their pre-season and he is not sure how they will bounce back if they lose their opening match.
"That's a very good question actually because everything you've read, every second day there was a story about their preparation and how good it's been and how long they've been at it," McKenzie told 3News.
"So they've set themselves up for all or nothing."
"We quite like that scenario. If we can win tomorrow night it's a good question (if they can respond) ... probably a better question to ask them."
While the Brumbies named their team early in the week McKenzie annoyed White by delaying the naming of his team until Friday.
White accused the Reds of playing word games when talking about their players fitness and he said that he expected James Horwill to play on the weekend.
McKenzie stayed true to his word about Horwill being injured and named a team without their captain as well as former captain Will Genia.
Regardless of who the Reds field the Brumbies are confident that with world-class flanker Pocock in their team they are close to the complete package.
White has been talking up his new signing David Pocock and comparing him to some of the all time greats in rugby.
"You talk about Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Schalk Burger, they're players who can win games on their own," says White.
"You've got to put David Pocock in that same frame. He won the quarter-final (World Cup 2011) against South Africa on his own and showed how worthy he is.
"That's how highly I see him. All players who play with him and against him know what he's worth."
"He's going to add massive amounts of value to us."
