Competition honours may have been missed for the Highlanders but they still have plenty to play for when hosting the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Saturday.
Assistant coach Tony Brown said they would want to prove to their fans that they had improved during the year while also having the chance to celebrate halfback and co-captain Aaron Smith's 150th game for the side.
He said Smith had stepped up in 2020, especially with his leadership on and off the field.
The Highlanders had played some of the best rugby they had played all year on Sunday against the Crusaders, he said.
Unfortunately, Brown said, the Crusaders had exploited some last quarter weakness and their three quick tries had shown how hard they were to beat.
Reflecting on the season, he said the Highlanders had proved to themselves they were as good as the other teams.
"Potentially, not a lot of our guys would make those other teams selection-wise so it's been pretty pleasing from our point of view and we've still got a long way to go.
"There's a lot of young guys in our team with a lot of ability but to be able to beat the top sides you need to be able to handle those pressure moments when you're tired, when you're under the pump from the opposition," he said.
The side had been able to use the lockdown break to advantage, he said.
The challenge would be to return next year ready in good physical condition to advance on what they had achieved during the 2020 campaign.
Brown will return to Japan in September to help in the preparation of their national side for the eight nations competition in Europe later in the year. He will return to the Highlanders for next season.
Flanker Dillon Hunt said the season had been more physically demanding than other seasons.
"As everyone knows these games are like Test matches and you do feel it after the game," he said.
However, he felt the coaching team had managed to get the loading right so they could perform each week.
He was enjoying having consistent game time which allowed him to think only about his role while also appreciating having good mentors around him.
Hunt said the break during the lockdown had allowed players to refresh and also to look forward to when they could return to playing.
"It puts it all into perspective when you get excited about what you do as a job, so coming back in I was pretty excited. I think it helped us a lot," he said.
Hunt said he felt the laws for flankers were being interpreted differently now from what they were at the start of the season.
"The first couple of rounds there was a feeling-out process, there were a lot of penalties given away. I think they are trying to balance that out now and possibly make it a bit more difficult to get guys on the ball and make the turnover.
"In the definition of the law you have got to be on the ball pulling upwards and I think you can see now you have got to be doing a bit more than that often to get rewarded.
"It's a good contest and guys are still getting turnovers so it's probably not a bad balance the way it is now," he said.
Wing Jona Nareki, who was awarded the side's rookie of the year award at their annual awards night, said he had enjoyed the Super Rugby exposure after stepping up from Mitre 10 Cup play.
"It's a huge step up, especially in physicality and also the speed of the game, it's a huge step up from Mitre 10 and Sevens," he said.
After scoring a try from an intercept against the Crusaders at the weekend, Nareki said he had benefits from his Sevens play in being able to maintain his top end speed to take those types of chances.