NRL: Hohaia confirmed fit for Mt Smart send-off

Lance Hohaia will be farewelled after the Warriors' final regular-season match against the Cowboys. Photo / Getty Images

Lance Hohaia held serious fears he wouldn't get the sendoff he was hoping for.

As he battled to recover from torn cartilage in his right knee, he wondered if he would stagger rather than stride out of Mt Smart Stadium after 10 years service and 181 NRL matches. Surgeons don't always deliver the best news and Hohaia was expecting a report on the troublesome knee he injured in July to cut a little more deeply than the scalpel the doctors usually wield.

Tomorrow night, however, Hohaia will be farewelled along with a handful of other departing players after the Warriors' final regular-season match against the Cowboys. He's due to start off the bench in a game the Warriors will want to win to ensure they take momentum into the first week of the playoffs.

"I thought I might have played my last game for the Warriors," says the 28-year-old who has signed a four-year deal with St Helens to play in the English Super League. "I was a bit sad about it. I didn't really want to go out on a whimper, to have an injury forced me to finish my time here.

"I had a lot of time to reflect on my time with the club during my three-week break when I was on the sidelined with an injury. I was a bit nervous I wasn't going to be able to get back on the field and I was hoping things were going to work out the way I wanted them to. I realise in rugby league that doesn't always happen."

It's something that has been a feature of Hohaia's Warriors' career.

When he came onto the scene as a precocious teenager in 2002, labels like 'the next Stacey Jones' were quickly thrown around. The only problem for Hohaia, however, was that Jones stayed for another four seasons, keeping Hohaia out of the halfback position he coveted. By the time the Little General left for France in 2006, Hohaia was a different player.

It has meant a career as a utility, one he's done brilliantly as he's got the club out of more than a few sticky situations, but it's difficult to escape the feeling it's been a career largely unfulfilled. Hohaia has been asked to play in the halves, hooker, fullback, centre and wing and he even packed down at lock for one game.

He's rarely been first-choice in any position, and it wouldn't surprise if some called him Bob, as in Bob the Builder (Can we fix it? Yes we can.).

"I have made peace with the utility tag," Hohaia says. "I knew each time I signed with the Warriors that was what they wanted me to do. I thought seriously about moving elsewhere and having a crack at a starting position.

"I wasn't playing as regularly as I wanted [in 2007] and off the field I was pretty unhappy. I love this team and have invested a lot emotionally and I love the game but I wasn't playing regularly, and not in the position I wanted to. I thought I might have to leave but I got through it with the help of my family and friends. I knew deep down I had unfinished business with the club and had things I wanted to achieve. The only way I knew how to get out of that was to work hard and perservere and I got to where I am today."

Coach Ivan Cleary, who will also be farewelled on Saturday night before he takes up the coaching job with Penrith, described Hohaia as "one of the club's best".

"He will be sorely missed. He's been a fantastic servant to the club over a 10-year period and is the only player [still at the club] to play in a grand final. He's pretty much played in every position he's been asked and done a great job."

The biggest thing Hohaia is looking forward to at St Helens is playing halfback. He's been given assurances he will be the starting No 7 and, after close to 10 years wondering where he might be asked to play next, it's a welcome change.

"That was one of the motivating factors in taking up the deal," he says. "I grew up in the halves and it's where I feel most comfortable and it's where I think I can play my best footy. I haven't had the opportunity to play there regularly in the NRL, which is ultimately what I wanted to do, but I was happy to fulfil the role the club wanted me to."

- APNZ