Cronulla Sharks' forward Andrew Fifita is ready to complete a miracle comeback, playing his first game since a horror throat injury when he plays for the Indigenous All Stars on Saturday night.
It was an injury which had Fifita placed into a coma at one point, with fears for his long-term health and recovery, and his NRL career looking almost certainly over.
It took Fifita almost a fortnight to be discharged from hospital following the incident, which saw him having problems breathing and swallowing after a game with the Knights.
He suffered a fractured larynx from the elbow to his throat and said after his release from hospital that at one point he didn't think he was going to make it alive.
"I ended up getting the doc, I said 'doc I need your phone'. He said 'what?' and I was like 'I really need your phone'," he told Nine News at the time.
"I ended up writing a nice text to my missus (saying) how much I love her.
"I honestly didn't think I was going to make it there.
"They ended up cutting my neck. He said (if they did it) a minute later I would have died.
"Then they realised they clipped an artery in my neck, and I was bleeding all through my lungs, so I was drowning in my own blood.
"It's taken a long time to process it and I'm still not through it. When you sit in front of a doctor and he tells you, 'four times I went home at night, Andrew, and didn't think you were going to make it'โฆ it's one of those things."
Fifita has now completed his recovery and was picked by Indigenous coach Laurie Daley for the All Stars clash against the Maori team on Saturday night which will bring the curtain down ahead of the NRL season.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Fifita said he is ready mentally to get back on the field, saying he has had to put a lot of work in with the Sharks during pre-season.
โItโs been an emotional and testing time, but to date Iโve ticked every box except playing an actual game," Fifita told the publication.
โIโm ready. Mentally Iโm ready. I thank Loz (coach Laurie Daley) for picking me.
โIโve worked hard to get to this point, particularly over the last few weeks. We did a pretty big scrimmage (simulated game) last week with the Sharks and I got through that, which has given me a lot of confidence."
While other clubs have been busy convincing their players to pull out of the game after a disrupted pre-season, it's been anything but for new coach Craig Fitzgibbon at the Sharks, who have seven players taking part in the game.
Fifita told the publication Fitzgibbon has been fantastic.
โIโve had several conversations with โFitzโ and heโs been terrific โ he knows how much I want to play in this game and how it could set-up my season," Fifita said.
Following the All Stars game, the Sharks will play pre-season trial matches against the Penrith Panthers and Canterbury Bulldogs, where Fifita will have a chance to prove his fitness and push for a spot in the 17 ahead of their Round 1 clash with the Canberra Raiders on Friday, March 11.
Iโve always thought Andrew Fifita was robbed of the Clive Churchill medal in 2016. Despite running his backside off for nearly 200 metres and scoring the winning try he was not awarded the medal. In my opinion this was because he had made too many enemies in NRL Central.
That seemed to reflect in his game โ he was never the same guy in the following seasons. Last year he made just half a dozen appearances off the bench. Maybe injury played a big part in that, but I wonder if he would have recovered more quickly if he had felt more motivation.
Iโve always really liked him as a man, not just admired him as a player. Rough, no-nonsense, speaks his mind, as politically uncorrect as they come!
So Iโm really pleased to see that this year he looks to have regained both health and motivation. This may well be his last season, so I hope he has a belter.