Jahrome Hughes believes he will be ready to go on Friday night against the Penrith Panthers, however he is adamant he still needs to tick plenty of boxes before the clash.
A late omission from the game against the Sydney Roosters last week due to sustaining a calf injury, the halfback is hoping he won't have to watch from the sidelines this weekend and can return to the team in favour of Tyran Wishart.
In what we be a legendary battle against Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary, the New Zealand international insists his conscious of not putting his hand up to play if he's not 100 per cent fit.
Roosters centre Joseph Manu was in the same scenario in week one of the NRL finals and ended up leaving the field against the Cronulla Sharks, leaving the club a man down.
"I'm tracking really well," Hughes said on Monday.
"I don't need to really rush anything, just give myself enough time to get it right."
"I probably gave the physio a bit of a headache last week because I told him I was all sweet but he obviously didn't think so.
"The thing that I don't want to do is go out there underdone. If I don't get through the game, it puts my team under pressure so I'll make sure I'm ready to go before going out there.
โI've just to get back into training. I didn't train very much at all last week, I sort of left it to the back end of the week and didn't get over the line. This week I have started really well, I had a trot yesterday.
โI'm a competitive guy, especially around finals. I was probably giving the physio a headache last week telling him that I was sweet but he didn't think so.
โThe thing I don't want to do is go in underdone. If I can't get through the game it puts my team under pressure, so I'll make sure I'm ready to go.
โI ran really well yesterday but calves are tricky โฆ I'll definitely be smart about it.โ
Storm coach Craig Bellamy remains hopeful that Jahrome Hughes, along with Xavier Coates, will return on Friday as the representative players race the clock.
The two players have been sidelined with injuries through the finals with Hughes being a late omission last week due to a calf injury, whereas Coates hasn't played in the NRL finals series at all due to sustaining an ankle injury before the week one game against the Broncos.
"I think they're both a chance but Jahrome is a better chance than Xavier at the moment," Bellamy said following Friday's victory over the Roosters.
"I think Xavier is still in a boot but having said that I've seen guys in boots for seven days and then they're playing two days later.
"They'll probably do a bit of training tomorrow, be assessed by the medical team and we'll go from there."
In other injury news out of the Storm, proper Tui Kamikamica will need to undergo a HIA before Friday, while Young Tonumaipea will be monitored throughout the rest of the week, and Alec MacDonald has a hamstring injury.
