Ulster's reliable captain is currently away from his province and with the Ireland international squad as they prepare for their upcoming opponents in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations, Italy.
Speaking ahead of the match, Henderson, has been reminiscing about having to make a huge personal decision, slap bang during the side's preparations for a huge clash against England in the 2020 Six Nations.
"Freddy (his son) was born on the Wednesday or Thursday. My wife was getting out of hospital the day we were supposed to be flying and I said to him (Farrell) as long as Suzanne is still in hospital I didn’t want to leave. He said, ‘100 per cent you do whatever suits you’ and I said, ‘Look, I’m not going to travel, I want to stay with Suzanne and young Freddy’.
He was like, ‘That’s perfect Hendy, if that’s what you need to do for your family, that’s what you need to do’. A lot of coaches could have easily said, ‘No, we want you to come across and play."
That human response from Farrell, seeing Henderson as a person rather than a player clearly left a profound effect on Ulster's captain.
“There are lots of coaches I’ve been under and it might have had a career cost but with Faz, I felt comfortable enough to say I don’t want to go and travel."
“As much as I wanted to play for Ireland against England, for me and my family at the time I felt it was the right call for me to stay at home. Faz was fully on board with it. He made me feel comfortable that it was the right decision for me.”
Fast forward to now and Henderson is a member of the team that are the number 1 ranked side in the world. They cemented their position as the most in form side around with a vital 32-19 win against France at the Aviva Stadium.
The win to many was first blood for Ireland ahead of a Rugby World Cup in France later this year where both are expected to be the favourites to win the tournament.
In Henderson's first appearance for Ireland in this years Six Nations he faced a nervous wait for a TMO check on a foul he made against Wales's full back Liam Williams, catching the Welshman in mid air with a charge down.
"You want to come on and add a bit of energy but you don’t want to do anything too ridiculous.
“I thought I was going to get some pressure through. I go up and then in my head I’m going, ‘Oh no, what have you done?’ I tried to pull out of it. These things happen.”
Henderson puts much of Ireland's impressive performances over the past year or so to having a competitive squad and ensuring Farrell has extensive strength in depth waiting in the wings.
“It’s bringing not only the starting XV up to scratch every time, it’s bringing a squad of up to 40 players and then with injuries probably another five or ten behind that as well to know exactly, how to just switch into camp mode and switch into the way Ireland want to play.
And for them to do that it definitely takes time. Everyone has worked incredibly hard to get selected for this squad but maybe in hindsight, you look back and think, ‘Maybe he didn’t have as much exposure to this environment than maybe suited him to get him up to scratch?’
“Whereas now we’re seeing that the players who we’re having to call on have been in here and know what’s expected of them."
Henderson will hope to get an opportunity to start against Italy, with Ireland's first choice lock Tadhg Beirne being ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with an ankle injury sustained against France.
“We’ve created an environment here where, irrespective of whether you’re starting or not, everyone feels like you’re contributing to the weekend’s win.
“The coaches are good at highlighting that and at pointing out when players are training well during the week or pointing out that this is making you better.
“Even if Ryan Baird hasn’t played yet, he is actively training well and understands that because he is training well he is affecting how Ireland play.
“That’s an enjoyable place to be when the coaches don’t ignore the guys who aren’t in the matchday 23."
Henderson says he's enjoying his time with the international side calling it the "best environment and team training set-up" that he's been involved with. Despite being disappointed not to start, Hendy says that everybody is pulling in the same direction whether included or not.
"Training makes everyone feel included and feel that they’re pulling towards the same goal. There is no bitterness against selection.
I was genuinely devastated when Tadhg told me he’d got X-rayed and it wasn’t looking good because he’s a big part of what we do as a forward pack and how we prep.”
Ireland play Italy on Saturday 25 February in Rome, with Kick Off at 2.15pm.