Warren Gatland says he would probably have a list of 15 to 20 players with "a good chance of going" were he to name his British and Irish Lions squad now for next summer's New Zealand tour.
Gatland will name his squad on 19 April, which leaves fans of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales over four months - which will encompass the Six Nations - to debate and argue who should be on the plane.
The squad will travel on the back of a hugely successful autumn international series - England won all four of their games, Ireland beat New Zealand and Wales claimed their best series of November results since 2002.
"To name a squad now, I would probably get a list of 15-20 names with a good chance of going," Gatland said.
"That (autumn internationals) was the best the northern hemisphere teams have done in a long time versus the southern hemisphere. It was massively encouraging.
"South Africa, Australia and New Zealand normally come up here and have pretty much unbeaten campaigns, and they go back spouting about how strong the southern hemisphere is.
"But South Africa are obviously going through turmoil at the moment, and Australia can be a bit hot and cold. I think we should take a lot of confidence from the performances of the northern hemisphere teams."
Asked about the Lions captaincy, Gatland added: "The process will be pick the squad first, then the captain.
"A lot of people talk about dual captains, I don't think we will do that.
"Whoever we do select, firstly it will be a massive honour, but the second conversation is, 'Just because you are captain, there is no guarantee you'll be playing in all the Tests'.
"Probably it will be someone doing a captaincy role at the moment."
Gatland also confirmed he had identified a potential second British and Irish Lions attack coach for next summer's tour.
But Gatland revealed he had not spoken with former England and Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan, who has been strongly linked to a Lions role.
Gatland will be joined in New Zealand by assistant coaches Steve Borthwick, Andy Farrell and Rob Howley, whose appointments were confirmed in Dublin on Wednesday.
The head coach had talked previously about taking a second attack coach, with Scotland's Gregor Townsend the strong favourite before he ruled himself out, and Gatland said: "That's the plan. I have identified someone I want to get.
"I am definitely looking for someone who is involved in the 15s game."