How does a 32-year-old earn a recall to the Wallabies after three years in the wilderness?
For Matt Hodgson, it took one hell of a battering.
Hodgson's irresistible form at the breakdown this season and his Super Rugby-leading 179 tackles forced Ewen McKenzie to name him in his 32-man Wallabies squad on Thursday.
And the Western Force captain was joined in the squad by teammates Pek Cowan, Ben McCalman, Nick Cummins and Wallabies newcomer Nathan Charles as McKenzie recognised players behind their team's impressive rise in 2014.
Hodgson gained the last of his six Test caps in 2011 and he admitted there were times he thought his international career might be over.
But after putting his body on the line all season - and frequently sporting the wounds to prove it - Hodgson is now a chance to don the Wallaby gold again during next month's three-Test series against France.
"You always think it's over once you play your last game," Hodgson said.
"But every game I step out for the Force, there's always a little bit of hope and you never say never.
"If I keep getting selected, it's a bonus.
"You always want to play for your country."
Cowan shapes as another feel-good story for the Force.
Like Hodgson, the 27-year-old has spent three years out of the Wallabies' set-up.
But a chat with Force coach Michael Foley at the start of the year helped spark Cowan's bid for a Wallabies recall, and his actions on the field did the rest.
"He definitely saw a few kinks in my armour in terms of a couple of technique things I wanted to work on," Cowan said.
"It's obviously paid dividends.
"As soon as you stop making the squad I guess you do start questioning yourself.
"But the hunger was still there, so the hope was still there."
Hooker Charles, who is the only professional athlete with cystic fibrosis playing a contact sport, will have to beat out Tatafu Polota-Nau and Stephen Moore to make his Wallabies debut.
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