The awards continue to pile up in the cabinet for Josh van der Flier, but avoiding complacency shouldn't be an issue for the 29-year-old.
For a start, it wasn't long ago that the flanker was struggling to get a look-in at international level, falling behind Will Connors in the depth chart in the Irish seven shirt.
Connors' injury problems opened the door for his Leinster teammate midway through 2021, and Van der Flier's brought his game on to a new level since.
His latest award, Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year, comes in addition to the Rugby Players Ireland and Leinster team prizes he won earlier this year, as well as the EPCR European Player of the Year award for his form in the Champions Cup.
But with such a healthy back row depth for head coach Andy Farrell, Van der Flier knows it would be foolish to sit back and admire his wares.
There are also new challenges to focus on. With injury having deprived him of a place on Ireland's 2016 tour of South Africa, as well as the Springboks' visit to Dublin in 2017, a first meeting with the world champions looms next week, for what would be his 44th international cap.
"World champions, they've been the team to beat the last few years," he says of the Springboks.
"I've never played them, I missed out on a few games through injury so it's a game I'm very keen for that.
"Even playing against the provincial South African teams, the bigger men than we're used to and that brand of rugby - it's very exciting."
While he's started each of Ireland's last 12 games dating back to the summer of 2021, an ankle injury picked up against Connacht means the openside's place in the team isn't 100% secure just yet.
But he remains confident he'll come through his recovery in time to feature on 5 November.
"I'll try and improve as much as I can this week with the ankle.
"It works well the way it's going this week, hopefully it'll be all go for match-week.
"I'm rehabbing away, I haven't been on the pitch yet. We're not going to rush anything this week, build in and hopefully be flying next week."
From a team point of view, Ireland will also have to guard against complacency, with their Test series win against New Zealand and world number one ranking putting a target on their backs, less than a year out from the World Cup.
"It's a great place to be, if you're at the top everyone wants to knock you down, but it's what we've worked towards and you'd rather be sitting in first than second.
"It's definitely something we're pleased to have and we can take a lot of pride that we've got to here and a lot of pride in trying to keep that position as well.
"You could definitely compare, having played the South African teams in the URC and the French teams in the European Cup, there's definitely similarities there in how they [the Springboks] want to play the game.
"But definitely it's a challenge. You could say that traditionally there are easier teams for Ireland to play than South Africa but it's what you want to do, you want to challenge yourself.
"It's definitely a different challenge to New Zealand in terms of the last few Tests we've played."
The Ireland team under Andy Farrell appear to play with greater flexibility than they did under Joe Schmidt, whose sides seemed to try nullify the opposition strengths rather than capitalise on their own.
"How can I answer that? I'm trying to describe how it works really," he added, when asked about whether the Farrell formula allows for more freelancing on the pitch.
"Andy is very good at...we do focus on the opposition because there are certain traits they have but Andy tries to bring out the best of what each player does.
"Some players are very good at competing at the breakdown, say, and he would try to get them involved or to express themselves in that way, the people who are good at ball carrying, try to get them involved in ball carrying.
"So yeah, he's good at trying to get each player to show the best of themselves."
All things going to plan, Van der Flier will see himself up against a formidable Springbok back row next week, with Siya Kolisi (below) and Pieter-Steph du Toit the most likely flanker combination.
And having never come up against the Springbok captain before, Van der Flier is keen to see how he matches off with Kolisi in particular.
"He's a brilliant player, first of all, he's been playing brilliantly in the Rugby Championship and has been for a number of years.
"And I suppose the figure that he is, in terms of being a leader in South African rugby, what that meant to the country and everything and how he represents the country in that way, he's a very impressive person.
"He's a cool person I'd like to meet, even outside if he didn't play rugby, I'd love to have a chat with him.
"And then as a rugby player, he's very impressive," he added.
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