After staring down his football mortality for nearly two years, Thomas Flegler is back in maroon and hungrier than ever to bring his trademark steel and aggression to rugby league’s toughest arena.
The 26-year-old Dolphins prop will add to his three previous Origin appearances when he runs on to Allianz Stadium for Game One, earning the call-up just nine games into his comeback from a career-threatening nerve injury to his shoulder.
Flegler said it was a mix of shock and excitement when he received that magical call from Queensland coach Billy Slater on Sunday night, the emotions welling as they reflected on his journey back from the game he loves.
“It obviously means a lot for me and it’s the same old, obviously dreaming this ever since I was a kid and been dreaming of this since the last time I played for Queensland so I'm really happy to be back,” he said.
“(Billy) obviously just rings up and let you know you're in the team and obviously I had a little brief chat about what sort of played out in the last two years and yeah it was, I didn't cry, but I was a bit emotional too myself, so yeah I’m just really happy to be back.”
Flegler detailed while he had to consider the possibility rugby league was no longer in his future, he was always optimistic about returning to the field – though maybe not at this level and certainly not so soon.
Welcome back Flegler
“Obviously I had to have those discussions and be a bit realistic, at the same time as I was being optimistic, but you know the whole time we've stuck strong with the whole rehab process.
"The Dolphins medical staff have been unreal throughout all of it and... it's easy sitting here saying it now, but we kind of knew we’d get back to be playing footy anyway.
“The hardest thing was the uncertainty at the beginning. Obviously I had so much time off, we didn't really have a clear direction of where we were going.
“I took six months off and we were just hoping that it would get better and then once we had the surgery, there's still another six-to-eight months for you to know if it's even worked.
"So there's probably a year period there where you're kind of just treading water, you don't know if it's going to get better or when it's going to get better but we did everything right and the timelines worked out well and like I said, here we are now.
“It's just part of life, you’ve got some hurdles you got to get over and some hurdles bigger than others and mine maybe was at some point in time, but you’ve just got to crack on with it.
Relive the post-match presentation following Origin III
“It's just one of those things that you’ve just got to get on with life, there's no point sitting there going on about it, because that doesn't really help anyone."
Queensland coach Billy Slater said Flegler’s selection was ‘a great story’ and he will no doubt be hoping the unbeaten Maroon can instill his toughness and winning mentality on the new-look squad.
“Everyone knows his journey with his shoulder. Prior to getting that shoulder injury, he was one of the best front-rowers in the game,” Slater said.
Thomas Flegler Try
“For him to fight tooth and nail to get back on the field, I think that speaks volumes of who Tom Flegler is.
“He was brought up on a banana farm, he's a tough lad and we're going to need that toughness.
“I love what Tom Flegler brings to this footy team. It was a really emotional sort of moment chatting to Tom on Sunday night.”
