In Tim McDermott's mind he was always going to lace up the boots again.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Even as he was being stretchered off the field, his ankle broken and his grand final done, the Gunnedah second-rower was thinking about the road back.
"I remember saying to my partner as I got taken off the field 'it just restarts again, we just start this journey again'," he recalled.
He knew it was serious: he couldn't not. As he put it "everyone knew straight away that it was just f....d".
But rather than dwelling on the disappointment - "it was what it was", he said - his mindset was that it was "just the next obstacle I need to overcome".
It was a remarkably calm frame of mind in the circumstances, but says a lot about McDermott's character.
He is generally a positive person and not too much flusters him.
It was a big moment in the decider when he came down awkwardly in a lineout - breaking his fibular and suffering a compound fracture of his tibia.
Often described to him as "graphic", some people thought he was "crazy" to contemplate playing again. But McDermott said he was always pretty determined to.
Three operations and many months of rehab later, he made his return off the bench for second grade against Narrabri in the final game of the first round.
After a couple of starts off the bench, he then made his run-on return for first grade against Quirindi two weeks ago.
"It was really good to get back out there," the 26-year-old said.
Suffering the injury just nine minutes into the grand final, after a two-and-a-half hour ambulance trip to Tamworth - due to the highway between Gunnedah and Tamworth being flooded they had to go via Quirindi - he was operated on that night to "put everything back in place".
READ ALSO: 'It's been epic': the rise of great mates
That was followed by another operation on Sunday to put in screws and a plate.
He had them taken out in November and replaced with what they call a TightRope - a braided polyethylene cord that goes between his tibia and fibula.
It was then just a process of gradually building up his workload and his strength.
Getting back to running around late March, since probably May he has been back to full training.
"The ankle's been fine for a while it was just mentally and getting the rest of the body right," McDermott said.
Little things like jumping in the lineout, and changing direction.
That first lineout back was "a bit nerve-racking" but he drew confidence from knowing that he had done the work.
"I think it will be a while before the ankle gets back to 100 percent but it feels pretty good," he said.
A big part of the Red Devils' winning back-to-back minor premierships, he is a big inclusion for them for the run home.
Back on top of the table, their destiny is in their own hands. Put simply, win all of their games, starting with Inverell on Saturday, and they will finish on top.
"We're just looking to improve every week and if we do what we did last year and just put in all the work and train as hard as we can and work together by the time we get to finals hopefully we're in a good position and can hopefully get back to the granny again," McDermott said.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Walcha host Quirindi in a game that could have big ramifications for both sides finals hopes and Moree travel to Scone.
