For much of his still young career, James Ryan has been judged off unsustainable standards.
This is the man whose first senior game of rugby was for Ireland rather than a province, and who had a Test try within two minutes of stepping onto the pitch.
This is the second row who was a Six Nations Grand Slam winner, a Champions Cup winner and a Pro14 champion before losing a game in professional rugby.
The teenager who captained Ireland to their best ever finish at an U20 World Championship, and a first ever win against New Zealand.
Still just 26, it feels like Ryan has packed a career's worth of ups and downs into just over half a decade.
And on the day he wins his 50th Ireland cap, he might now be playing the best rugby of his career.
Twelve months ago there were legitimate concerns over not just his career, but his long-term health. Having suffered three concussions during 2021, the lock was stood down from rugby and saw a head injury specialist from the end of November until the start of the 2022 Six Nations, a gap of 11 weeks.
And when he was the victim of a head-high tackle (below) by England's Charlie Ewels the following month at Twickenham those concerns returned.
Thankfully, Ryan was able to return to action in early May of last year, and while Leinster's season ultimately ended in disappointment, Ireland's Test series win against New Zealand last summer appears to have marked a turning point in his career.
Ahead of Ireland's Autumn Nations Series win against South Africa in November, he spoke of how he's rebuilt his confidence this season, with those head injuries effecting how he was approaching the game.
Crucially this season, Ryan is producing big moments in big games.
"It's something that I think got under his skin, this physicality, or lack of, perception that was going around."
Against South Africa, a lineout steal just before half time snuffed out a potential tryscoring opportunity for the Springboks, which would have seen the world champions bring a lead into the break, before doing similar a fortnight later against Australia.
His performance against Wales last week was probably overshadowed by those of Hugo Keenan and Caelan Doris, but he was vital to Ireland's 34-10 win on both sides of the ball.
With just over 15 minutes to play he came up trumps with another crucial lineout steal on the edge of his own 22, cleanly picking off the throw of Ken Owens to relieve pressure at a time when Ireland were living dangerously.
And in the first half he dominated in contact, scoring a try, his first in an Ireland shirt since 2019, and taking out three Welsh defenders with a brilliant carry in the lead-up to Doris's score in the opening minutes.
One of the criticisms of Ryan in recent seasons is that dominance in the contact area hasn't been seen enough.
"It's something that I think got under his skin, this physicality, or lack of, perception that was going around," his former Leinster and Ireland teammate Sean Cronin told the RTÉ Rugby podcast this week.
"I think he looks back to his best.
"This guy - at lock - broke into the Leinster and Ireland team at such a young age, he looks back to his best in terms of carrying in the tight.
"Leading up to Doris’s try he took a beautiful inside ball off Johnny, and it took two or three players to take him down. His work in the lineout, he’s been outstanding and seems to have got back to that form of 2018, 2019."
The criticisms of Ryan in recent years were largely shaped by the high bar he'd set early in his career.
For the schools rugby fanatics, he's been a player who had been on the radar as far back as 2012, when he scored a 60-metre wonder try in the opening round of the Leinster Schools Junior Cup against Castleknock College.
By the summer of 2016, those early experiences were already proving valuable. Captain of an Ireland U20 squad containing the likes of Andrew Porter, Jacob Stockdale, Hugo Keenan, Max Deegan and Jimmy O'Brien, they beat New Zealand for the very first time at that grade, going on to reach a World Championship final.
A long-term hamstring injury denied him the chance to make a Leinster debut in 2016/17, but that only added to the intrigue around him.
He's one of three players who'll bring up a half-century of Test appearances for Ireland this afternoon; veteran Dave Kilcoyne will hit that mark if he comes off the bench to replace Andrew Porter. Porter is also set for his 50th cap, having been an U20 teammate of Ryan, and the pair made their debuts in the same game back in 2017.
When he was brought on Ireland's tour of the USA and Japan in the summer of 2017, he was given a Test debut before he'd even played for Leinster, and when he connected with Keith Earls to run in and score a try within two minutes of taking the field in New Jersey, it was clear he was the real deal.
That game against the USA was the first of 23 he'd play for Leinster and Ireland before experiencing a defeat in professional rugby. By February 2018 he was a first-choice lock for Ireland, making his debut at Stade de France as Johnny Sexton's late dropgoal gave Ireland a dramatic win, from which they would go on their Grand Slam run.
"I remember him going out there against a big French pack and taking the game to them," head coach Andy Farrell said of Ryan's first Six Nations appearance five years ago.
"Since that game, the growth of his stature within the group has been phenomenal. They all look up to him, whether he knows it or not. They look up to him, you know? It says a lot about his character, doesn't it?
"His game’s developing in my opinion, the whole time. His attacking game is certainly developing. His decision-making is developing but he’s never lost what his point of difference is and that’s his work ethic, his fight. He’s got real inner strength to show his will to win so hopefully all that comes out on Saturday."
He's one of three players who'll bring up a half-century of Test appearances for Ireland this afternoon; veteran Dave Kilcoyne will hit that mark if he comes off the bench to replace Andrew Porter. Porter is also set for his 50th cap, having been an Under-20 teammate of Ryan, and the pair made their debuts in the same game back in 2017.
A look around the Six Nations shows just how much rugby is yet to be played in his career, with 33-year-old Richie Gray returning to arguably the form of his life with Scotland, having dealt with similar hype as Ryan when he broke onto the scene back in 2011.
Ryan's ability to stay injury-free will have a lot to say on Ireland's chances this year at the World Cup, as well as his own personal ambitions of touring with the Lions in Australia in 2025, having missed out on selection in South Africa two years ago.
But right now he's fit, and looking as good as ever.
"I'm feeling as good as I’ve felt for a couple of years anyway," he told RTÉ Sport in December.
"I haven’t been in and out of the game, or had extended windows out of the game, and my confidence and belief has grown off the back of it, off the back of getting an injury-free period.
"I think I’m getting back to the player I know I want to be."
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