Warriors centre Jerome Ropati has firm ambitions to return to the NRL in 2013 but is also anxious about being able to make a successful recovery from another serious injury.
Ropati’s season came to a premature end for the second year in a row when he dislocated his left kneecap this month while filling in at fullback against the Sydney Roosters.
“The desire is there but I do think about whether the injury is going to react properly not,” he said on Tuesday.
“The reality about having injuries like this is that sometimes it might not come back as you would like it.
“There’s a lot of factors I can’t control. The only thing I can do now is do my best in rehab and see how it goes from there.”
Ropati was a spectator at Warriors training in Auckland on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old is in his 10th season with the club.
However, injuries have restricted him to 138 first-grade appearances and 11 Tests for the Kiwis, the last in 2009.
His longest time out of the game was last year, when he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee against St George Illawarra in round three and didn’t play again.
His initial thought when he went down against the Roosters was that he had damaged the ligament again.
“Thank goodness it was a patella, which is a better injury,” he said.
“It still keeps me out, so it doesn’t change things. But I’m over it and looking forward to ‘rehabbing’ it and getting back.”