Former Magpie Hika Elliott with the shield, and his daughter.
Time out with his daughter and partner and a return to the grassroots have fuelled not only Hikawera Elliot's rugby ambitions but also his approach to life.
"It's a long process we went through together. My partner and I split up for a year but we're back together, so my daughter played a huge part in that," Elliot said yesterday of toddler Willa and partner Anna Morton.
"I've come to realise there's life outside rugby and I'm also drawing strength from being a father to the little one."
The former three-test All Blacks hooker, 28, was back in the Chiefs' fold as a pre-season replacement for Nathan Harris when they officially assembled in Hamilton yesterday for the 2015 Super Rugby campaign.
Ironically, the former Hawke's Bay Magpies rake injured his neck in the Maori All Blacks' end-of-year tour in 2013 and Harris replaced him.
Now, the Tamatea Rugby Club player will take over from Harris, who is recovering from ankle surgery after the ABs' match against the American Eagles in Chicago early this month and is expected to be out of rugby for six months.
Elliot found it "pretty weird" to be called in for Harris, 22, and everything had been "fast tracked in the last couple of weeks".
"I feel for him [Harris] and know how he feels, mate.
"One day you're out there with the stars and on cloud nine and the next your season's pretty much gone.
"I know how close I came to calling it quits."
Elliot's return has also fuelled speculation ABs coach Steve Hansen may bracket him into the 2015 World Cup equation if he has a stellar Super season.
"It's in the back of my mind. I'd be lying if I said I didn't ... but I have a lot of work to do," he said, emphasising his first priority was to concentrate on the Chiefs who he helped lift the Super Rugby trophy twice (2012-13).
"I have to push for the 22 come February when we play our first Super Rugby match."
Elliot recuperated in Napier after surgery late last year for a bulging disc in the neck.
Surgeons used some of his hip bone to fuse his neck, prompting Elliot to harbour thoughts of early retirement.
However, in September he got the thumbs-up from his medical panel to play a game for his Tamatea premier club side before announcing a fortnight later he was going to help Heartland campaigners Poverty Bay, who ex-Magpie teammate Mutu Ngarimu coaches.
"I was playing with guys who were working from 14 to 18 hours a day and then had training so it gave me a new perception on playing rugby," he said of Ngarimu's "Red Army Revival" last winter.
Hawke's Bay lock Everard Reid and winger Brynn Uriarau were in the Poverty Bay squad, too.
In April last year, Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union CEO Mike Bishop said the 83-match Magpie (2005-2012) didn't meet the union's expectation of value but his dumping found national traction when New Zealand Rugby Union CEO Steve Tew questioned Bishop's position.
Elliot, a former Maori All Black and ex-Junior All Black, expressed desire to stay with his hometown union but instead found himself in the ITM Cup provincial wilderness for a while, before signing up with Counties-Manukau at the umpteenth hour.
In September, he was part of the Tana Umaga-coached Steelers outfit who took the Ranfurly Shield off the Craig Philpott and Danny Lee-coached Bay in 2013.
But the Magpies this year avenged their loss at Pukekohe, returning with the Log of Wood which lives in the union's offices in Napier for more challenges against the Championship campaigners next winter in the national provincial championship.
Elliot enjoyed his time in Napier with his family as he recuperated, as well as helping coach the Tamatea premiers and the sevens side.
"I still have a passion for Hawke's Bay, my province, and I like to see a small town doing well."
Elliot sees this as a new lease to revive his career and is immensely thankful to the Chiefs franchise, coach Dave Rennie and his assistant and former Magies co-coach, Tom Coventry, as well as everyone else who kept faith in his ability to make a comeback.
"I'm a lot fitter now then when I last left the game," he said, brimming with confidence after coming from a fitness test with the franchise yesterday.
Usually, they weren't the sort of numbers he crunched at fitness in pre-season sessions.
It wasn't easy for Elliot following surgery when he did "nothing" for 18 weeks.
"I put on weight, not playing footy so I was into comfort eating."