Since this season's Belgian top flight kicked off, Josh Cullen has played every single minute of every possible game for Anderlecht in all competitions.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder's decision to sign for Belgium's most storied club in October 2020 has paid off handsomely with the 25-year-old becoming a mainstay of Vincent Kompany's engine room, even going onto captain the first team in January just three months after his arrival.
So his second winter break as a professional footballer couldn't be more timely to recharge his batteries as he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"It's been really good. The first season, especially with the transfer window with Covid and everything not finishing until (last) October, it takes a period of about three or four months settling in on and off the pitch and before you know it, you're coming towards the end of the season," said the deep-lying playmaker, who adds that the adaptation has been made easier for him as English, rather than French or Flemish, is the 'lingua franca' used by all squad and staff members within the club.
"So it's been brilliant this year to come back settled and have a good pre-season with the team and spend more time knowing what the manager wants from me and knowing what the manager wants from the team and I'm sort of seeing the rewards for having that, playing a lot of games and playing regularly."
With a two-and-a-half week break for Anderlecht's players before Jupiler Pro league action resumes in mid-January, the former West Ham academy graduate welcomes the physical and mental break that it provides unlike for his contemporaries still playing in England.
"It's nice to have that time. You make a lot of sacrifices, you spend a lot of time away from family and friends, so to have that little period of a week or so that you get to recharge your batteries and spend some time with family and friends - obviously you still stay focused on football because we love the game - it's time to reset a little bit and have a time to clear the head and look forward to the second part of the season," he said.
His international manager Stephen Kenny will be hopeful that Ireland can benefit from Cullen's opportunity to replenish his reserves of energy when the March window and then the UEFA Nations League rolls around.
Just like for Anderlecht, he has quietly become an integral part of the Boys in Green midfield, slotting into the deeper midfield role where he has most often partnered by Jeff Hendrick in a fast improving Ireland side.
It's a different system to his club's back four, whereas the Irish back three gives him more opportunity to get forward where possible as well as holding the fort.
"If you have three centre-backs behind you, you have a bit more licence to join in attacks when the time is right especially if you know your other midfield partner will sit for you and stand in the middle of the park. Then you can get forward and join in," Cullen explained.
Ireland's last game of the World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg saw the midfield pairing in a 3-4-3 outnumbered early on by the hosts but they began exerting control in the second half after Cullen's free-kick was headed in by Shane Duffy and were then bolstered in the middle by Jason Knight in a 3-5-2 as they drove on to seal a 3-0 victory.
Having that extra midfielder introduced from the bench - much like when Knight and others options like Jamie McGrath have started - is something Cullen viewed as helpful on the night.
"It can be tough when the opposition has three midfielders - obviously they will have an overload in midfield 3v2 so when you have a player like Knighty to come on and help you out in there with the energy he has and the quality he has, then it's brilliant," he said, adding that he feels Hendrick and himself are "complementing" each other's approaches well.
"But I think to be honest, the forward players that we have as well have done a great job in helping us out as well defensively, so whoever's in there has been doing a great job and whether that's more of a midfielder playing an advanced role or a striker playing a deeper role, everyone's pulling their weight and working within the defensive organisation we're all trying to pull towards as a team. Long may that continue."
The formation might shift somehwat but what hasn't changed though according to Cullen has been the messaging from Kenny and his coaching staff, including when the side were struggling for results in March.
"It was the same messages. The philosophy that the manager has, the players believed in from day one. But things like that take time," said Cullen.
"It was never going to click overnight and coming in and trying to play a new style of football, it's something that takes time. It's tough for a club manager, let alone an international manager when you don't have anywhere near as much time on the training pitch to work with the team.
"It took some time. We had some positive performances without getting the right results that we were after but the last couple of camps have been good and we've got good results to go along with them. A lot of credit goes to the manager and his staff for sticking to the philosophy and the way of playing when there was a little bit of pressure on us as players and the management and it could have easily been 'right, we're going to change the way we're playing'. But no, they were brave and stuck to their principles and now we're seeing the rewards for it."
But for Cullen, the return of supporters to the Aviva Stadium has been another missing ingredient that has helped buoy the side like it did during the sell-out for the draw against Portugal in November.
"It's a huge difference. It's hard to explain how much of a difference that makes to a player," he said.
"At the time, when you were playing behind closed doors, you have to be professional and you still know the match means loads and you need to create your own atmosphere as players and nothing can recreate a full Aviva."
While international and club targets abound over the next year, he does have like a visit to his paternal grandparents' native Leitrim firmly engraved on his bucket list.
"I haven't been. My grandparents moved to London but it's massively on my bucket list sooner rather than later to go," he said.
"Last year, my parents went back and sent me some photos and pictures of where nana and grandad grew up and the houses they lived in, so it's 100% sooner rather than later definitely something that I'll be doing and intrigued to go back and see where my roots are."
