Nicho Hynes has revealed his season-threatening ankle injury potentially came at a good time, allowing him to reset and get a fresh perspective ahead of the NRL finals.
Hynes will play his third game back from a fractured ankle in Saturday's qualifying final against Melbourne, as Cronulla look to claim their first finals win in six years.
The Sharks halfback has endured a roller-coaster 2024 season, after starting the year as one of the Dally M leaders.
He made his State of Origin starting debut for NSW in the halves in June, before becoming the fall guy for the Blues' game-one loss.
The 28-year-old was then subjected to intense scrutiny around his performances as the Sharks suffered a run of losses, before fracturing his ankle at training in July.
Hynes said he felt two separate pops in his ankle when he went down, before scans cleared him to return in time for the finals.
The playmaker admitted there were some silver linings to the injury, because he was able to spend more than a month in the coach's box and out of the limelight.
"It was bittersweet," Hynes said.
"In the first week you have a lot of time to think for yourself, because all I could do was sit on the couch and elevate my leg.
"But once you get past that stage and get in the boot, I could get in the coach's box and start being around the team again.
"So there were some good things to take out of it and some learnings. If there was a good time, maybe it could have been time that I needed.
"I'm in a really good space right now, and I'm looking forward to the finals."
Hynes said he had began to feel at ease with the way Cronulla had played without him, with Braydon Trindall and Daniel Atkinson standing up in the halves.
The halfback's return has also come with far less media spotlight, after he was by far the most talked-about player in the NRL through the middle of the year.
The Sharks have in turn grown more protective of their No.7, with players regularly joking he is the only person media ask about in press conferences.
But Hynes said he had handled the period well, with the support of his partner Piper.
"It comes with the job. Every halfback at every team cops the brunt of it, so I'm happy to cop it for my team," Hynes said.
"There's things that could have been unnecessary, there's things where I needed to just be better.
"I'll always come under the microscope. It's just it is what it is, just got to embrace it and keep moving forward.
"I'm human, sometimes it can affect me, and sometimes it doesn't.
"I'm just really lucky that I had some really good loved ones around me in that period, and I'm not scared to talk about it to the people who are close to me."
