Will Chambers has had reason to feel sorry for himself this season but he has refused to.
A footy injury left Chambers sidelined for 13 weeks, ruling him out of the Trans Tasman Test in May as well as the entire 2016 State of Origin series.
That period of time would have no doubt been frustrating but Chambers remained positive throughout.
During those lonely moments in rehab the 28-year-old needed only to turn to his fellow injured Storm, Queensland and Australian teammate for a dose of perspective.
“Injuries come and it was unfortunate the time that it came but at the end of the day I got back to playing,” Chambers said.
“There is a guy named Billy Slater who is going to miss out on everything, unfortunately Bill is not going to be there this year.
“I knew I was going to be coming back to playing footy at some stage… I got the opportunity to come back and now starting to play decent footy.”
Chambers produced his best game of the season when it mattered most in Saturday night’s minor premiership decider against Cronulla.
The centre ran for 120 metres and was immovable in defence against the highly fancied left edge of the Sharks.
While he was happy to recapture some form in the lead in to finals, he is well aware that the challenge is about to get a whole lot greater this weekend.
“It’s finals footy, it is a different time of year and the footy is going to go a new level,” Chambers said.
“They’ve got JT and they are going to come down here with a good forward pack and some pretty quality outside backs there that are going to throw a lot at us. We know we’ve got to be on our A-game to come up against them.
“They’ve got some boys that have been on the big stage and you don’t have to look too far, they won the comp last year.
“They were the premiers last year and we know they are going to come down here with a game plan to get stuck into us. We’ve got to get ready for it, embrace it and enjoy it.”
