The suggestion in many of the questions Stuart McCloskey was asked at Wednesday afternoon's press conference inferred that he would keep his place in the Ireland team when it is named for the match against France.
He did little to dispel the assumption. The common refrain of 'waiting to see what team the boss picks' was missing.
The 30-year-old is in line to win his tenth cap if named at midday on Thursday for Ireland's second Guinness Six Nations match of the year.
That would make it four starts in a row for the Ulster centre, who is hoping to hold off Bundee Aki, who himself made a fine cameo in Saturday’s 34-10 win over Wales.
McCloskey, after making a largely positive debut in a Six Nations loss to England in 2016, picked up just five more caps over the next five years as he struggled to work his way into Joe Schmidt’s plans.
But if handed the 12 shirt for the 2.15pm kick-off at the Aviva Stadium it will make it a tidy little run of starts for the powerhouse centre, who has taken advantage of Robbie Henshaw’s injury woes.
The forgotten man theme is a familiar one to the Co Down native but after consistently performing for Ulster under Dan McFarland, McCloskey is now firmly in the Irish mix.
Asked what coach Farrell sees that coach Schmidt didn’t, he reckons he has raised his own game.
"I don't know, maybe I'm a better player now than I was back then. I think my game has improved," he said.
"There's obviously been a lot of competition in there. Maybe I just didn't fit Joe's eye. But here, that's in the past, not something to worry about now.
"It will be nice to get another game in a row. There's lots of things to improve on but I'm just looking to put in a good performance this week and hopefully that will help lead to a win.
"I feel I have a pretty good understanding of how Andy wants us to play the game.
"I understand where I need to be and how to help the rest of the team, it's not just about how I'm playing but how I get everyone else involved in the game.
"It's great [to get four games in a row], it's easy when you're coming into such a good team, we're number one in the world and haven't lost too much over the last 24 months so I think it's more the confidence of coming into a team that's playing very well and not trying to do anything too special, just playing my own game, that's what I've taken from it.
"I always understood the guys who were in there were doing a good job.
"There were times at the start, yeah, when I felt I wasn't getting the rub of the green but in the last few years Bundee and Robbie have been playing unbelievably when they've been playing for Ireland."
France scrapped past Italy at the weekend and that coupled with Ireland’s win in Cardiff confirmed that the Dublin match-up will be a battle of the top two ranked sides in the world.
Staying focussed for the entire 80 minutes is central to Ireland’s chances of beating the holders, who are second in World Rugby's standings, says McCloskey.
He said: "Some of the stuff they do, like they're obviously well coached in defence but it's off the cuff with Dupont, N'tamack [above] or any of their backs really, bouncing out, getting a hand-off and making a break, getting an off-load and that's when they're at their most dangerous.
"So it's constantly staying switched on and being aware of that because not a lot of teams can do what they do."
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