Warriors recruit Kieran Foran fronted New Zealand media on Wednesday for the first time since he signed with the club last year, discussing his progress since moving back to his country of birth.
While the wait continues for Foran to take the field for the Kiwi franchise, following his last-minute withdrawal due to a hamstring injury suffered in the warm-up of last week's clash with the Dragons, the 26-year-old spoke of enjoying life back in Auckland.
"It's been refreshing… although it's been difficult being away from my two young kids in Sydney, it's what I needed," Foran said.
"It's been about Kieran the person first and football second, and that has been (Warriors managing director Jim Doyle's) main priority.
"It's a great club to be part of, I am really enjoying my time here.
"Mentally I have really noticed a change in myself and I am starting to turn a corner there.
"It's just been nice getting back to my roots and what made me happy as a kid and finding myself again."
Despite his latest injury setback, Foran remains a good chance of taking the field in this Sunday's NRL Telstra Premiership match against the Gold Coast Titans at Mount Smart Stadium, with the playmaker stating he was "desperate" to play again.
"I had a run today, it felt reasonably good. I am optimistic about playing on Sunday but I won't know until I really try and explode off it and take off, as to how it will hold up," Foran said.
"If I still get a bit of pain there come Friday or Saturday then I will make the decision to wait another week.
"There's no tear, we are reasonably confident it's just a strain.
"The smart decision was not to play [last week], I felt like I would have done more damage to it and been out for several weeks.
"I'm going to give myself every chance, right up until the captain's run on Saturday."
After battling personal issues away from the game, along with a serious shoulder injury which required surgery and delayed his return to the playing field, Foran said the hamstring injury came completely out of the blue.
"It was just strange… I have had a history of hamstring problems throughout my career, but I had gone so long without having an issue there," Foran said.
"The last one I had was sort of Round 1 last year with Parramatta and I haven't had one since.
"It was really bizarre how it happened, whether it was my back from the plane trip over and everything was just tight, it could have been the case.
"[I felt] just disbelief really, I couldn't believe it.
"To get in it a warm-up where I wasn't exploding or doing anything that was too fast, I just couldn't believe it."
Foran has been named to start at five-eighth by coach Stephen Kearney, with both Mafoa'aeata Hingano and Mason Lino included on an extended bench as halves cover, should he fail to recover in time.