The way Sam McKendry talks about it, you could be excused for thinking the Penrith prop spent most of the NRL season recovering from a hamstring strain.

Instead, the hulking Kiwi was rehabilitating from a broken neck, an injury which normally sends a shudder through any rugby league player, fan or official.

Thought to be out for the rest of the season after fracturing the C6 vertebrae during the Panthers’ round seven win over Parramatta, McKendry made a surprise top grade return in Sunday night’s loss to North Queensland.

It was a feel good story on a bleak night for the Panthers – whose finals chances slipped into the realm of mathematical possibility – with coach Ivan Cleary admitting some within the club doubted whether the 24-year-old had a future in the game.

For McKendry however, there were never any doubts.

“I always had a positive attitude towards the neck injury. I eventually got through it and here I am today playing,” McKendry said.

“It’s just like any other injury, you’ve just got to make sure it’s 100 per cent right before you play.

“That’s what I did, making sure I got the clearance from the specialist and I ended up playing.”

One of the game’s more robust props, McKendry could be forgiven for tempering his style in a bid to protect the injury.

There were no signs of that against the Cowboys however, two bursts at either end of the game proving McKendry wasn’t about to hold back on the field.

“You can’t really think like that when you’re out there, you’ve just got to play the way you’ve always played,” he said.

“You think like that and it will make you hesitant when you’re out there.

“Not in the front row, you’ve got to charge the ball up and put your body on the line.”

McKendry’s return has come at a good time for the club, the Panthers needing to win all four of their remaining matches to be any chance of making the top eight.

The news wasn’t as good for Matt Robinson, the Panthers backrower who had also suffered a neck injury, against Parramatta back in round 18.

Robinson is yet to start rehabilitation and won’t play again until 2014.