When Jahrome Hughes called his wife Molly in tears to tell her his forearm was fractured, he assumed his dream of a second premiership ring had also been shattered.
The Kiwi playmaker was only 25 minutes into his comeback from a dislocated shoulder when Broncos back-rower Brendan Piakura steamrolled him in Round 27 and left him clutching his arm in agony.
Game over. Season over. Or so the disconsolate Hughes thought.
“I rang my wife and said, ‘yep, done'. I shed a bit of a tear. It was quite a disappointing time, because I knew how much belief and confidence we had in our team to do something special this year. So, I thought I'd miss out on all that," Hughes told media on Monday.
“I flew back the day after [the game against Brisbane] and got surgery that afternoon. Just to see the surgeon and how confident he was that I was a chance to come back, gave me a little bit of hope.
Jahrome Hughes Try
“I still thought I was gone. I thought he was just lying to me, just to keep me happy at the time.
“But once I came out of surgery, he said the same thing. Then I talked to my physios and the doctors, and they said the exact same thing. Once I knew that, I put all my eggs in the basket and wanted to work as hard as I could on my rehab.”
Even in his wildest dreams Hughes could not have envisaged his comeback after just 22 days out would go so brilliantly, as the Storm rolled the Sharks to book their ticket to the big dance for the sixth time in 10 years.
Hughes previews Grand Final
With the scored locked at 4-4 after 15 minutes at AAMI Park, Hughes took an offload from Stefano Utoikamanu and used his heavily bandaged left arm to fend off Jesse Colquhoun before racing away to score his seventh try of the season.
Hughes racked up eight tackle breaks for the night and 504 kick metres as the Storm guaranteed themselves a shot at redemption for a 14-6 loss to Penrith in last year's decider.
Asked on Monday what the secret was to his remarkable recovery, the 30-year-old laughed off suggestions that he possessed any kind of superhuman healing power.
In contrast, he revealed that the rehabilitation process had been relatively straightforward.
“Once I peeled it [the bandage] off, it looked really good. I was surprised - I was waiting for some gruesome scar. The docs were really happy with the scar, and they started to put a bit of physio on it,” he said.
“There wasn’t anything crazy. Just compression, getting a bit of massage around it, that sort of stuff.
“I think the biggest thing was, when I come out of surgery, I was a bit stiff in my wrist in that I couldn't really move it. But once I got that range back, I think that was a big thing.
A welcome return for Hughes
“That’s what most of the healing process was about - just getting the movement and the strength back.”
Hughes' return meant the Storm had the luxury of a full-strength spine for just the eighth time this season, with Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster and Harry Grant also producing some big moments in the win.
Bellamy could see the confidence in Hughes around return
Also back for the preliminary final was edge forward Shawn Blore, who missed two games with a fractured larynx, giving the Storm their first-choice 17 on the paddock for the first time since the opening game of the season.
With the band finally back together and a shot at another premiership locked in, Hughes said the Storm were still trying to find the extra levels to their game that they will need to lift the Provan-Summons Trophy on Sunday.
“Coming into the finals, we knew we still had a couple more levels to our game, and we just needed to be able to find that,” he said.
All Tries – Storm v Sharks
“Last week was a big step into finding that extra level and that extra gear. We’re going to be preparing really well this week to hopefully go a little bit better, because that's what we're going to need to be able to win the game.
“We've trained a lot together, not just this year, but in the last couple years. We know how to play together.
"It was probably just ironing the creases out a little bit with our combinations. I feel like we're building really well with that.”
