Corey Oates has a habit of complaining about niggles and knocks but, when the Brisbane winger was hospitalised by a staph infection, his Broncos teammates knew it was serious.
The 22-year-old is likely to return to the NRL this weekend against Gold Coast, after training strongly on Wednesday at Red Hill.
Oates, at 192cm and more than 100kg, had been a formidable sight on the wing for the Broncos and Queensland.
He last played on June 24 against Canberra, but teammate Sam Thaiday said his return was anything but certain.
He said the rare infection had impacted Oates to the point where his future on the field was clouded.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I'm sure Corey will tell the story one day, but he was probably only a few days off being really, really sick to the point where there was a need to have major surgery," Thaiday said.
"He's a player we like to give stick to because he's always carrying on but, this time, he was telling the truth."
After a long hospital stint, Oates resumed light duties last week, but completed Wednesday's full session to indicate he would replace David Mead in the side to play the Titans.
"He is a close friend of mine. To not know what was going on was a bit scary for everyone," teammate Matt Gillett said.
"In that hospital bed, sitting around by yourself would have been scary but I'm glad it's something they have got on top of."
Ben Hunt will fill the role of injured hooker Andrew McCullough on Saturday night, while Thaiday has even spent some time in the position at training.
The Broncos will miss the mountain of defensive work McCullough gets through, Thaiday and Gillett are excited by Hunt's extra pace and kicking game.
With Thaiday working on dummy-half passing at training, he is likely to play limited minutes at hooker when Hunt is on the bench. Josh McGuire is also an option at the scrum base.
"Sammy was the first one to put up his hand," Gillett said of the process to choose a back-up No. 9.
"He'll do a job for a little bit; it's one on the resume for him, for sure."
Thaiday is expecting the Titans to respond positively against the fourth-placed Broncos, after a disappointing loss to the Wests Tigers on Sunday had crippled their finals hopes.
