Head coach Matt O'Connor consequently left the RDS Arena, leaving former Leinster captain and forwards coach Cullen to try and make his mark on the squad.
And Kearney, who scored two tries in ten league appearances last term, believes Cullen has what it takes to succeed.
"Last year we probably moved away from some aspects of our culture and seemed to diminish a bit," said Kearney.
"Leo's huge strength is that he's a Leinster man through and through. He understands what it took during those tough years to get us from a team of nearlies to be a really good achieving team in Europe.
"Having players coming in and out of the environment with younger guys maybe not stepping up and taking on the leadership as much as they should have, small little things like that, can be improved on next year.
"I think the guys back there in camp realise how important those first seven weeks are going to be in determining the rest of our season."
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