Melbourne Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes has revealed he thought his season was over after breaking his wrist in the final round of the regular season.
Playing in the Thursday night encounter of that weekend against the Brisbane Broncos, Hughes was in his first game back from a previous shoulder injury.
While seen as a risk to play him before the finals, Melbourne were desperate to get some minutes into the halfback.
As it turned out, the injury he sustained had nothing to do with the shoulder, and instead he broke his wrist in a direct contact injury.
The halfback's season appeared over at that point, with recovery times normally sitting around four to six weeks for the injury, but after receiving surgery, he was told by Melbourne medical staff that he would be a chance to play in the preliminary final, which Melbourne locked in after beating the Canterbury Bulldogs during the opening week of the finals.
Speaking on Channel 9s The Today Show, the New Zealand international revealed he had told his wife he thought his season was over, and that he thought medical staff were geeing him up about the chance of being able to play again.
"I rang my wife straight after the game and said that's me done for the year, I still pinch myself that I'm in another grand final," Hughes told Nine's Today.
"I gotta give big raps to our medical team and, obviously the surgeon who did the surgery.
"They told me there was a chance of playing 22 days after my surgery, I thought they were just geeing up because I was obviously disappointed.
"I thought I was gone for the year, but was able to get back and now it feels really good, so, I just gotta get through one more game."
Hughes returned in the preliminary final against the Cronulla Sharks, with Melbourne claiming victory and setting up a grand final showdown against the Brisbane Broncos this weekend after they managed to see off four-time premiers the Penrith Panthers in the other preliminary final.
