HUNTER Wildfires breakaway Morgan Inness is grateful to be playing rugby again.
The 26-year-old endured a horror 18 months in which COVID cut short a successful stint in Scotland and a serious concussion nearly ended his career.
After stepping away from the game for six months, Inness has found a home and a new lease of life at the Wildfires.
"I played two seasons for Watsonians in the Super Six in Scotland before COVID hit," Inness said. "I was earmarked to go into Edinburgh set up but due to COVID it didn't eventuate.
"I headed back home in the middle of last year and linked with Hawkes Bay for the Mitre 10 Cup. Unfortunately, I got injured in a pre-season trial against Waikato. A bad head knock. It was pretty challenging. I definitely thought maybe it's time for me to move on from footy and get into my professional career.
"I had a complete break from footy, I didn't event touch a ball. I started missing it. There was definitely still an itch there. I got an opportunity at the Wildfires and it has worked out well.
"I played the first four rounds in seconds, which I found beneficial, having not played for nine months. It allowed me to build confidence and get going again."
Before Scotland, Inness had a season in Russia.
"Straight after uni, I went over there," he said. "There were six Kiwis at the same club down near Sochi. We were coached by two Kiwis and played a New Zealand style of rugby. The Russians were huge blokes, really good athletes but didn't have much rugby knowledge. A lot of them didn't start playing until they were 19.
"Lifestyle wise, it was totally different to what we are used to in the west. We were looked after pretty well and we had six of us Kiwis. If you were by yourself, it would be pretty daunting."
Innes has been outstanding in the Fires past two wins over Manly (25-21) and Randwick (41-38) and shapes as a key man for the visit by Easts on Saturday.
"The boys are starting to find their groove," Inness said. "The set piece is coming along really well. The most pleasing thing in the past couple of weeks has been the desire and ability to work for each other at the back end of games.
"If that attitude is instilled in the team, we can go along way. It is just about sharpening the knife each week and improving the areas we need to work on."
Wildfires coach Scott Coleman had nothing but praise for the hard-working blindside.
"He is 100 per cent in everything he does," Coleman said. "He does all his extras, is the ultimate competitor and and the ultimate professional."
The Beasties sit in 10th spot on 13 points, seven points behind the Wildfires.
"Easts have been unlucky," Innes said.
"They have had really tight losses and will be bloody hungry. We are expecting another hard game. Their nine runs the show well. We need to make sure we are on our game on the short side and around the ruck."
Wildfires: 1 Faavae Sila, 2 Phil Bradford (c), 3 Nick Dobson, 4 Ngarahue Jones, 5 Ben Wood, 6 Morgan Inness 7 Donny Freeman, 8 Lona Halohalo, 9 Leon Fukofuka, 10 Will Feeney, 11 Issac Ulberg, 12 Penikolo Latu, 13 Tom Watson, 14 Adrian Delore, 15 Tute Grant
