The idea of it all seems a little odd - even to the player himself. But at 20 years of age James O'Connor kicks off the new season for Stoke City this afternoon with the beginnings of a reputation as one of the English second division's hard men.
There's plenty more to the young Dubliner's game than that but, since breaking into the Stoke first team at the end of the 1998-99 season the midfielder has quickly established himself as a fearless ball winner. After a spell out on loan last season, Manchester United's John O'Shea returned to Old Trafford weighed down by stories of just how tough it is in the English lower divisions, but with just four starts under his belt before the 1999-2000 campaign, O'Connor subsequently established himself as a hunter rather than one of the hunted.
He laughs at the suggestion that he strikes fear into players who are older and much more experienced, but the Stoke fans have no doubts about how valuable he is to the team. As manager Gudjon Tohordarson and the Scandanavian owners at the club bought in over the summer months to boost the promotion campaign, there was little suggestion that the young Irishman would have anything to worry about.
"The only central midfielder they brought in was a Danish fella (Henrik Risom), he's a former international all right but I get the feeling he's there as cover for myself and Kav (Graham Kavanagh).
"In pre-season I've been playing a lot and we've been doing well (Stoke have beaten both Liverpool and Birmingham City), so I'm confident enough about holding onto my place, although all you can do is keep your head down and hope that the manager keeps on picking you."
There were times last season when O'Connor could hardly have been accused of keeping his head down - he picked up 15 yellow cards out of 58 shown to all of the Stoke City players combined. For his trouble he was banned twice and, after card number 14, earned himself a trip to London to meet with the league's disciplinary committee.
"I though they'd give me another suspension then," he recalls. "But they let me away with it, just fined me £200. This year the manager has told me to ease up a bit, not to pick up so many silly bookings, but he says that he knows that I'm always going to pick up a few cards because of the sort of game that I play."
Asked to describe that game, O'Connor laughs and says: "Basically I tackle people and then give the ball to Kav. He's the one who does all the hard stuff, he's a great player and it's been brilliant for me to have the opportunity to play alongside him." Kavanagh, as well the team's other Irish man, Clive Clarke, is suspended for today's visit of Wycombe Wanderers, so O'Connor is likely to be partnered by Risom. The hope is that the team will make the sort of start that will justify the bookies' decision to make them second favourites to win the division behind Wigan Athletic.
"After going so close last time (they were beaten in the play-offs) we should go up this time all right. At this stage, though, we just want to get going because it feels as though the pre-season has been going on forever." O'Connor's international career also looks to be blossoming. At the under-21 tournament in Toulon in May, he was one of the few Irish success stories, seizing his opportunity to impress manager Don Givens and making fairly certain of his place for September's Under-21 European Championship qualifier with Holland.
"Toulon was great for me because I felt it was the first time that I really got a proper chance to play. Before that, any games I'd played for Ireland had been for 10 or 15 minutes but over there, even though the results were disappointing, I enjoyed it and Don said afterwards that he was pleased with the way I had played."
In fact, Givens repeatedly singled the newcomer out for generous praise, and while his opportunities to progress to the senior team might be limited by the presence of a certain midfielder with a similar style of play, another good season should pave the way to bigger and better things.
