After initial fears he would miss up to 12 weeks, Dolphins centre Herbie Farnworth said he was grateful to be back on deck just a month after injuring his shoulder earlier this year.
The England international was in good form as Wayne Bennett's side hung on to defeat Manly, saying it was a relief to be back playing after being presented with a worst-case scenario upon his initial hospital visit following the win over Wests Tigers.
“(There was) instant pain … against Tigers; I was thinking the worst and got told it would be anywhere from 12-plus weeks for surgery or eight weeks if I didn't have to," Farnworth said.
“We've got some got some good staff here and they have done well to get me back in the time I've got back here.
“That's [timeframe] what I heard from the hospital, but it must not have been that bad; to get back in four," he laughed. “It felt pretty good today."
Against the Sea Eagles, Farnworth was heavily involved in his return match with 153 run metres, six tackle breaks and a try assist, a well as making a key play at the dead-ball line to earn his side a repeat set which eventually resulted in a try.
With a long turnaround before the Dolphins take on the Tigers once again to close out Magic Round next Sunday, Farnworth, who was icing his right shoulder after the game, was looking to continue working on making improvements to his game.
Taking it upon himself to play more of a roaming role after being told by Bennett to get his hands on the ball as much as possible, Farnworth shifted from edge to edge during the match, also linking up with his fellow centre Jake Averillo.
“I still feel like I've got a lot to add to my game, I am always trying to improve," Farnworth said. “It wasn't really a plan, I just wanted to get into the game.
“Thought I could push on ... and try to try and get some offloads away, which I did. It's just something that I'm trying to add into my game from last year.
“I've not asked [Wayne for the role] – he told me to get my hands on the ball early, so that's what I was doing.
“I'm not trying to overthink anything and am just trying to play some footy.”
Their 30-24 win means the Dolphins remain in the top four for now, but Farnworth knows his side needs to fix up their errors if they are to continue to defy expectations.
“We just let them into the game, and then when we do turn it on, we blew them off the park a bit there," Farnworth said.
“Putting that 80 minutes together next week, we’ll be better.
“The conditions were tough, maybe a little bit of that caused some errors; I'm not too sure what it was, but we'll fix it up for next week, for sure.”
This article contains content that is only available on NRL.com