Matt Lodge concedes his on-field temper let him down during the 2021 NRL season, revealing he has taken up fishing to help clear his mind.
Lodge will play his first game of the season on Saturday when the Warriors take on Gold Coast at Cbus Super Stadium as he returns to the scene of his final-round brain explosion last year.
The prop was one of three forwards sin-binned in the final 15 minutes of the Warriors' season, all stemming from separate melees.
Lodge was also fined $5000 by the NRL for giving a one-fingered salute to the Titans crowd as he left the field, capping a drama-filled end to 2021.
The dangerous contact charge from late in that match marked his fifth offence of the year, while he served a total of four games in bans on the sideline.
The dramas marked Lodge's first return to the headlines after having a relatively trouble-free run at Brisbane after his long ban out of the game for high-profile off-field incidents.
"It's definitely something that holds me back a little bit, my short fuse," Lodge admitted.
"It was a tough couple of years of footy and probably the frustration just spilled over in those in those last few weeks.
"It was a bit embarrassing how I went out that last game."
Lodge also conceded he, Jazz Tevaga and Kane Evans had let the club's reputation down that day, and deserved the spray they copped from chief executive Cameron George.
The prop's solution has since been to get time away from rugby league and said he had barely thought about the incidents since end-of-season reviews.
He has taken up fishing in Redcliffe, while admitting the boy from western Sydney is still struggling to catch much.
But regardless, he has insisted he is entering the 2022 season with a clearer head.
"I just had a bit of time away from social media," Lodge said.
"I haven't watched much of the trials or read many articles. I've just found a few hobbies.
"I'm doing my fishing apprenticeship. (Veteran fisher) Terry Jones has taken me under his wing. So he's teaching me how to catch fish, that's been good."
"I feel refreshed and not let things get to me. I've just got to keep that stuff under control."
Coach Nathan Brown is also confident there has been a change in Lodge, and there will be no repeats of the end of last year.
"I think that was the end result of a lot of things at the back end of last year. Any player, having something away from rugby league is really important for them.
The Warriors confirmed on Wednesday changed border rules would not see them move back to New Zealand early in the season.
But they have had their hopes boosted for a return match at Mt Smart Stadium on July 7.
