After close to two years on the sideline, Waratahs fly-half Will Harrison is ready to put two devastating knee injuries behind him and reestablish his career and push for higher honours in the process.
Felled by a serious injury against the Chiefs during Super Round in 2022, Harrison suffered a multi-ligament ACL, MCL and patella tendon rupture requiring surgery and a slow rehabilitation. It was a mentally and physically draining process, only made worse when his return for the Waratahs A side was marred by a toe injury that sidelined him yet again.
Quick to get through his second rehab stint, Harrison was back on the pitch, this time in the myrtle green of Randwick in Sydney's Shute Shield, before disaster struck.
"Tough, really tough," Harrison told ESPN when discussing his second knee injury. "I think the hardest part for me was coming back from such a big injury initially and then first game back for the Waratahs A side -- you know it takes a few games to get going, but I felt like I was already playing myself in some good form and there were probably opportunities opening in the [Waratahs] side to really make an impact on Super Rugby.
"To do my toe and be back out of the mix and then to travel up to Newcastle on Easter Friday and doing my knee it was terrible. I had my physio there watching actually and it was just such a s--- feeling. I can't explain it, but I guess as soon as it happened, I almost just promised myself that it is what it is, let's just get through it."
A second long-term injury in 12 months is a horror outcome for any athlete, but the 24-year-old believes the mental fortitude he built and a change of perspective from his first rehab stint made him more than equipped to overcome the situation for a second time.
"I guess every situation you can look at it one way or the other, you can always find a negative, and you can always find a positive. I saw the impact of my negativity in my first rehab and the effect it had on other people, so I thought I needed to make the most out of this and try and really learn and grow from it.
"It's forced me to mature for sure and I feel like I am pretty mentally resilient after what's happened to me. There's been a fair bit thrown at me and to be able to be standing now, two months from playing again, I'm feeling like I'm in really good nick and my body is in a good spot.
"I feel like I've got a lot out of it, and I think also when something's taken away from you, you don't realise what you've got until it's gone. I really appreciate, not just what I do for a living and playing rugby, I just appreciate being healthy.
"I remember early on in my rehab when I couldn't walk, I couldn't get in and out of bed without assistance, couldn't have a shower by myself, all that stuff, you realise how good you've got it just being healthy and being able to walk and run and exercise. So yeah, it's given me a lot of perspective on what life could be like.
"It was definitely a tough pill to swallow for sure... at the end of the day, I've got two arms, I've got two legs, I'm a pretty lucky man and to do what I do for a living is awesome. I feel like I've taken so much knowledge out of what I've been through."
Still working in the Waratahs rehab group the fly-half has his eyes on a few weeks into the Super Rugby Pacific, providing everything goes to plan. It would be his first time pulling on the sky blue jersey in close to two years and the first game in front of a home crowd since early 2022. While he's full of excitement, he knows just how quickly things can change.
"We're aiming for Round 3 give or take a few things, but that's sort of our goal right at the moment," Harrison told ESPN. "We could bring it forward a bit earlier, but I think just because of the time spent trying to get this right, we just want to really make sure of it.
"I am a little bit [excited]. I'm sort of just trying to not get too far ahead and just focus on what I can be doing right now to recover for the next session. It's still a challenging time. There's obviously been a lot that's gone into it, so I'm just trying not get too far ahead of myself, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited."
The youngest player to sign a professional contract with the Waratahs in 2018, Harrison was on a lightning path to higher honours after his Super Rugby debut in 2020. A Junior Wallaby and captain of the Australia Schoolboys side, his trajectory was only going up after he was selected in the Wallabies touring squad under Dave Rennie at the end of 2020, while he'd seemingly won the battle for the Tahs No.10 jersey over good mate Ben Donaldson and fellow playmaker Tane Edmed.
Despite his long stint on the sideline, Harrison's potential spoke for itself with the Waratahs offering the fly-half a new contract, a gleaming endorsement for the young playmaker.
"I'm really excited and hopeful that Will can get back to the athlete he was before and if he does, there's no doubt he and Tane will have a really ding-dong battle [for the fly-half position]," Waratahs coach Darren Coleman told ESPN.
"If there's anyone that's going to do the work to get on top of their injury it's him. He's literally in the top five players I've ever coached in the dedication stakes. For me it was important to back him and hopefully he'll realise the potential he had before and go from there.
"It wasn't a hard decision. Had it been a player that was a little bit lazy or had a few poor habits maybe we wouldn't have taken the gamble; but Will bleeds blue, he's popular in the group, he's a tough, tenacious guy that's super dedicated so I think it'll work out well."
Three years on from touring with the Wallabies, the hunger to earn national selection has only grown, but Harrison knows he'll first have to contend with Edmed to win back the No.10 jersey.
"100% [I've still got ambitions to play for the Wallabies]. I know what I want, and I'm just trying to go and try and get it," Harrison said.
"I've just been looking back on my whole career; I had such a good start in 2020, then 2021 was obviously a tough year for myself battling little injuries and then 2022 I felt like I was starting to come into form and push for spots and then did my knee.
"Again I had aspirations last year coming back to still try and crack the World Cup squad, but obviously things didn't pan out and I guess missing out on so many opportunities, whether it's for the Wallabies or Waratahs A tours and the Barbarian tours. I think when you're sitting at home not being able to get out of your bed and just watching rugby, it just lights that fire and that's sort of been my motivation to get up and train every day and to really have a diligent rehab, just to try and one day get back on the footy field and do well for my state or my club but it's also to try and push for higher honours.
"But I've got to be patient. Obviously, I know it's not going to happen overnight [earning the No.10 jersey back]. Tane's a great player and he's a great mate of mine and he works so hard, so it's going to be a challenge in itself, but I've just got to be patient, compete really hard at training and if I get an opportunity again, I expect to take it.
"I'm always willing to play a bit of footy if it's on. I think one thing I tried to get right last year was just really balancing my game between my pass, run and kick. I've got a bit of a run threat in me, and I can evolve my game just being more balanced, more triple threat. That's what I plan to do.
"I'm obviously on the back foot a little bit but I've got a huge amount of self-belief I can do it, I can get back into the side, play No.10. That's what I want to do so I've just got to compete, focus hard and what I can do to get back there."