Ulster supremo Dan McFarland is confident that Iain Henderson will be his own man as the province's new skipper.
Henderson's mentor Rory Best has retired from the game following the World Cup but McFarland is confident that the 27-year-old can be a success in the captain's role.
"We all take stuff from our mentors and Rory is a great mentor for Iain, and there will be plenty of things he will take from him," said McFarland.
"He does not really need to be given advice on this, my advice to him as always been, 'Be your own man'.
"And the amount of times he will be asked the question about are there big boots to fill, his answer and my answer to that is he does not have to fill Rory Best’s boots, he is bringing his own boots and they are pretty big boots!
"Iain is a smart fella, he will find a way that he can lead as with all leaders, you lead by example and he brings a great example on the pitch."
Henderson himself admitted it was frustrating in a way to be named club captain the day before joining Ireland's long World Cup training camp.
"You have top quality leaders scattered throughout the whole squad for me just to assume I was going to be captain was stupid and idiotic," said the second row.
"I was delighted when I got a phone call to come in and chat with Dan. I was incredibly frustrated that I was not able to jump back in with everyone.
"Brilliant, I'm going to be captain, and then right out you go and 'see you in two or three months'.
"That was frustrating. Part of me wanted to get back in there.
"From the outside watching, the good work they have been putting in, the changes with coaching staff, strength staff, the facilities updated at Kingspan to hopefully put us in a better place than we finished last season in and be able to take steps forward".
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