At the tender age of just 24, Ethan McIlroy finds himself as one of the more experienced members of the current Ulster squad.
While a string of players headed for the exit door over the summer, only Aidan Morgan and Werner Kok have been recruited.
With a greater emphasis being put on bringing through academy players, McIlroy feels that it’s up to players like himself who have been on board the last four or five years to step up to the mark and help the new faces settle into the senior ranks.
“I think we have maybe a bigger role to play, that middle ground you could say, where we are going to have to step up and sort of help them and get them up to speed and help them if they need any help with anything.
“We can sort of touch on our experiences so far and give them a good bit,” said McIlroy.
“From being in the last four or five years, this has probably been the biggest change I feel the squad has had; since I’ve been here anyway.
“A lot of younger guys, a lot of academy guys are going to be probably relied upon this season more than ever.
“But they have been coming in and doing great. We’ve been working together and got a lot of numbers out there which is good.
“Yeah, we’ve had a good pre-season under our belt where everyone has contributed really well and they’ll be ready to go when needed,” he added.
McIlroy also feels that the squad is energised and ready for the new season.
A fresh-faced Ulster couldn’t have asked for a tougher start with current URC champions, the Glasgow Warriors first-up at Ravenhill on Saturday night.
“Really tough,” McIlroy commented on the opening fixture.
“The league is just getting tougher. Every year all the teams are getting better, and the differences in the quality are getting smaller.
“So, every game is going to be tough whether you are home or whether you are away.
“And yeah, it doesn’t get much tougher than the champions before going to South Africa. But we’ll prepare the same, you’ll do your reviews and previews on the teams, we’ll train hard and focus on ourselves and what we can do and bring that into our game and try to be as accurate as possible.”
McIlroy has amassed 64 appearances for Ulster with his run-outs spent between full-back and wing.
While acknowledging that he is just happy to be making any starting XV, there is no doubting in his mind as to which jersey he wants to make his own.
“I’d love to nail down the full-back role. I feel like that’s where you’ll get the best out of me, I can bring the wingers into the game a bit more.
“But, I’m happy to play anywhere and I’m comfortable playing anywhere. I can play wing or full-back, but I would love to play a bit more at full-back.”
