Jarryd Hayne says he was so physically wrecked at half-time in his comeback State of Origin match he collapsed in the dressing rooms and vomited.
But as traumatic as that was, it only reminded the one-time NFL convert how much he missed the Origin arena and his "sacred" Blues jersey.
Hayne, 29 and now a senior statesman of the NSW team, was back to his magical best in Origin I at Suncorp Stadium.
He broke through four tackles at centre, set up a line break and scored a second-half try in the 28-4 win.
But he has revealed it came after the most difficult half-time of his career.
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"I was rooted," he said.
"I actually collapsed in the change rooms, I was spewing up. I was sitting there going, 'F***, I could be the first centre to get substituted in Origin!'
"I went to walk and my head started spinning and my legs started feeling a bit funny.
"If I hadn't put my head onto the table and crouched down I was gone. I was literally going to go. I could feel my body doing it, I could feel my legs, it was like 'far out'. It was weird.
"You've got to go to hell and back ... I was f***ed but it is what it is."
Hayne admitted that it was Origin football he missed most in his two-year absence from the game.
He came home to watch the Blues' 52-6 embarrassment in the 2015 decider but spent the opening game of that series trying to convince his San Francisco NFL teammates of its ferocity.
"I was trying to say: 'Listen but Origin is next level, it's even beyond what you normally see in a normal game.'
"Unless you're coming off you're coming off on a stretcher. You've just got to keep going, that's what this game's about.
"And they couldn't really fathom it."
Hayne still classes his 2014 Origin series win as his career highlight - above his 2009 run to the grand final with Parramatta, above his Fiji rugby sevens Olympic tilt and even above running out with an NFL team at the 49ers.
"You go away and then come back and realise watching it on TV how much it means to you and how much you miss it," he said.
"I remember watching it and just wishing I was out there or wondering if I could have an impact."
But on Wednesday night he has a chance to equal the feat, with the Blues one win from another series triumph.
"It's gone so fast," Hayne said
"In those years I've travelled the world and done things I could never imagine and now I'm back in a position we were in in 2014, which was historic.
"And that's up there as probably the highlight with everything I've done and I've been able to achieve."
