To say I am looking forward to the Lions Tour Down Under is an understatement.

Certainly, it will be a demanding trip after a gruelling season for most players but, if it is anything like previous tours, everyone will come back a better player.

Graham Henry always sets his teams an extremely high standard of rugby.

Through a combination of hard work in training and the coaching staff's astute technical coaching we will all be striving to achieve that standard over the coming weeks.

The management team have been great to us so far.

Their knowledge of the game, their advice and of course their leadership qualities in training will prove vital throughout the tour.

Donal Lenihan commands huge amounts of respect and Graham loves to get his tracksuit on and get on the park to show the players exactly what he is wants from us.

Obviously, we will arrive Down Under in fairly good shape but it will take us a number of games before we have totally adjusted to the climate and conditions.

The squad is fairly injury-free which will ensure serious competition for places in this side - that can only be a good thing.

The general spirit of the squad is also superb and that kind of bonding between players can often be the difference between an average side and an outstanding side.

Tough start

The early games will be tough and it is important we do well in those to give us the confidence and the belief that we can be as successful as previous Lions squads have done.

We are well aware of the Lions track record in recent tours.

The successes in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have yielded two series wins - not bad when you consider these are three of the best international sides in the game.

With so many talented players aboard the plane to Australia, it will be difficult for the coaches to chisel the squad down to the first team.

However, these extra days we have spent with each other has allowed us to get to know each other a lot better.

There are still members of the squad I have to get to know better as both people and players - if you don't know each other inside out then how can you expect to gel on the pitch.

Admittedly, it is a totally different atmosphere to being in the England squad.

Now the tour is about to get underway, we are out of that comfort-zone which you get into at club level and so it is vital you feel at ease with the people you are going to be mixing with.

We are just itching to get out there and show the world what we can do.