Jac Morgan insists he hasn’t thought about the vacant Wales captaincy despite being touted as the team’s potential new skipper at the Rugby World Cup.
After Ken Owens pulled out of the tournament through injury, Warren Gatland has been urged to forget the old guard and pick a younger, fresher face to lead his side out in France.
A dynamic, well respected and immensely talented 23-year-old back-rower, Morgan totally fits the bill. As a result, he has emerged as one of the favourites for the captaincy, alongside Ospreys teammate Dewi Lake.
In many people’s eyes, including former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton - himself famously named skipper ahead of the 2011 World Cup at the age of 22 - he is the front runner.
"He's got a great future,” Warburton said of the Swansea-born star earlier this year. “He has got the attributes - speed, strength, power, quality - and also his professionalism and mindset towards the game”.
High praise indeed, but Morgan says he has paid no notice of the suggestions he could take on the armband ahead of this autumn’s showpiece.
"I haven't thought about it at all," he told reporters at Wales' World Cup training camp in the Swiss mountain resort of Fiesch. "I have just been here concentrating on the rugby and the training and trying to get the best out of me here.
"There are loads of leaders in the group and everybody speaks and motivates each other and gets the best out of each other. There are plenty of leaders here who can do a job. Everybody drives each other and we bounce off each other's energy. There are leaders within the group in different aspects and positions and it drives everyone."
The nine-cap international has always kept his feet firmly on the ground but it is clear his focus above anything else is making it into the World Cup squad, a pipe dream for him just four years ago when he was still a semi-pro player at Aberavon and undertaking an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering.
Added motivation, if needed, comes from his shock omission from Wayne Pivac's squad for last summer's tour of South Africa. Despite being the one of the standout No 7s in the United Rugby Championship leading up to the trip, he was told by the former Wales coach that he simply wasn't big enough to make the cut.
Since then, Morgan has bulked up, with Pivac even describing him as a "beast" in training just a few months after his exclusion. And while he admits he was disappointed to be left out, he has taken it in his stride and worked hard to improve his game.
"It is just part of rugby, whether you get selected or not," he said. "There are loads of ups and downs throughout your career. I was gutted not to get selected 12 months ago but at the same time I had work-ons to work on and tried my best to try and get better at what I needed to get better at.
"Carrying was one of the work ons, trying to get more hands on the ball and that's what I tried to do. We still have work-ons now and I am always trying to improve as a player."
While there would be more than a few raised eyebrows if Morgan was to be excluded from the squad again this time around, his place in the starting lineup is by no means guaranteed as he contests the most competitive position on the pitch. Even with Justin Tipuric out of the picture, Gatland is blessed with back-row options of the highest calibre, including Tommy Reffell and Taine Basham.
Both Morgan and Reffell have the potential to develop into truly world-class loose forwards, and Gatland will certainly start against Fiji with one of those in the line-up, but which one remains to be seen.
But ever the optimist, the 23-year-old is thriving in an atmosphere where nothing is guaranteed.
"The competition is great," he said. "They are a great bunch of boys and we are always trying to get the best out of each other. Everybody has their strengths and to work on and everybody works hard together trying to improve.
"That's what is so good about the squad, especially the competition, everybody is trying to get the best out of each other."
Having emerged from another sweltering fitness session at the hands of Huw Bennett with a smile on his face, it makes you wonder what it would take to wipe it off again.
He's being worked hard, harder than ever in fact, but he's looking good, feeling good and full of confidence. Frankly, he's raring to go.
"This is the most difficult training I have been a part of," he admitted. "It's been tough. "It is probably the hardest I have been trained and put through my paces. It is probably the best I have felt as well. I am not thinking 'I wish I could stop'.
"What's nice is when you look around everybody is suffering, maxed out, giving 100 per cent. You are not by yourself when you are blowing. You know then you are going to reap the rewards in the long run and get the benefits from it.
"There is a great mood in the camp," he added. "The boys are enjoying it and having a good laugh. However hard we are working and it's tough, we are all going through it and getting out the other side. It feels like we are getting ready and everybody is working to their best knowing that the World Cup is around the corner."
