Bernard Jackman believes Joe McCarthy has earned his shot in the starting Ireland team for the Guinness Six Nations opener away to France next week.
The Leinster second row has been one of the province's standout performers this season, earning high-praise for his aggressive style of play, and capped off his good recent form with a player of the match display in Saturday's Investec Champions Cup win away to the Leicester Tigers.
The 22-year-old has won five Ireland caps since his debut against Australia November in 2022, and played twice during the World Cup campaign.
But after leapfrogging Ross Molony and Jason Jenkins to become a first choice lock for Leo Cullen's side, it's expected he will have a larger role for Ireland in their Six Nations Grand Slam defence, which gets under way against France in Marseille on Friday, 2 February.
And with the second row standing tall at 6ft 6in and weighing 119kg, Jackman believes his physicality will be needed against a large French pack
"I think he starts against France, purely looking at what France can do," the former Ireland hooker told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"[Emmanuel] Meafou is out, Paul Willemse is coming back in and Atonio is doing a u-turn on retirement. I'm looking at the French pack, the power that they can bring and I think we need to get him in there to try counteract that.
"Maybe he needs to play every game, so we can start enforcing our power and strength on others.
"Certainly for France, he needs to start. He's bang on form and his margin of progression is still massive. He's still quite inexperienced really, and is still going to get bigger and stronger."
If McCarthy does start, it will be fascination to see who moves to make room for him, with both Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan seen as the regular starting pair in the engine room.
Alternatively, Farrell could revert to the selection he made in McCarthy's previous Ireland start against Romania at the World Cup, where McCarthy started ahead of Josh van der Flier, with Beirne dropping back to blindside flanker, and new captain Peter O'Mahony shifting across to the openside.
"I would start him, and then it's a case of whether you pair him with James Ryan or Tadhg Beirne," Jackman added.
"James is probably similar in terms of he's very physical, without having the size that Joe has, and then it would be a big call to leave out Tadhg Beirne, wouldn't it?
"That's the challenge, I would be starting him at tighthead lock and then wouldn't have any quibbles if it was James or Tadhg [alongside him]. I'd be starting him against France.
"I would have been very slow to pick an Irish pack without Beirne in it, and if he wasn't playing second row I'd have no issue with him playing 6.
"Unless they went with Pete at 7, which they can do, and then you have a better lineout. Josh has been better the last couple of weeks, but has been quiet-ish since the World Cup. That's potentially an option."
Former Munster wing Johne Murphy joined Jackman on this week's podcast, and agreed with that selection strategy, which he feels would also give Ireland's inconsistent lineout more options.
"Do you want that power off the bench, or away from home do you need it straight away? Then, it's who he's paired up with," he said.
"I'd be going that you need the power there straight away, so he starts, but then it's how the back row is managed.
"Are you going to take them on at lineout time? During the World Cup our lineout struggled a bit. Do they need more jumpers, if that's the case you can play Pete at 7 and Tadhg at 6, so you have four legitimate jumpers.
"For me, it comes down to the make-up of the back row, but I'd be starting him, rolling the dice and having Pete at 7."
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