He's a hometown hero on a comeback trail but Mick Fanning is hopeful the lessons learnt from his year as a part-time surfer can carry him to glory on the Gold Coast over the next two weeks.
The three-time world champion confirmed earlier this month he would compete full-time on this year's tour after featuring in only five events of the 2016 championship.
A emotionally taxing 2015 was behind his decision to take some time out of the tour, including his world-famous shark attack survival during a final at Jeffreys Bay, the breakdown of his marriage and the death of his older brother.
The 35-year-old still managed to win one of those five events he took part in last year - at the J-Bay Open where he fought off a shark in the 2015 event final - with a mind not solely focused on competition and success enabling him to surf freely.
Fanning hopes to bring that mindset into 2017, starting with the season opener at Snapper Rocks from Tuesday.
"I'd like to think I'll be a little bit freer," Fanning told AAP.
"Last year competing, because I knew I wasn't going for titles and stuff I felt a lot freer in my surfing so hopefully that can carry over into this year."
Fanning says his decision to compete full-time is a commitment at this stage but he's still reserving the right to take another break from the tour during the year if he wants.
"Once I sat down by myself I was like, 'maybe there's something still there?'," he said.
"I'll just go and investigate that. If it doesn't feel right - same three, six, nine months - I can always leave."
His season-ending ranking of 17th in 2016 means a third career victory at the Quiksilver Pro will have to be earned the hard way, starting with a mouthwatering heat against 11-time world champion Kelly Slater and France's Jeremy Flores.
With American maverick John-John Florence having turned his potential into a championship last year, Fanning says there's a long road ahead for him to turn his comeback year into a fourth world crown.
"There's so many title contenders this year," Fanning said.
"Obviously John winning last year, he's the biggest threat. Kelly's come out and said he's going to go all out. Parko's (Joel Parkinson) fired up, Jordy Smith, then you've got guys like Julian Wilson, Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) all those guys putting their hats in the ring.
"It's going to be a great race."
The Quiksilver Pro competition window runs from March 14 to 25.
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