Roosters fullback Michael Gordon says there are no ill-effects from the pectoral injury that threatened to cut his season short.
The veteran No.1 was expected to miss up to eight weeks after injuring his pec in the Round 18 win over the Rabbitohs but returned ahead of schedule for the narrow win over the Wests Tigers a fortnight ago.
Pec injuries are notoriously nasty and can sideline players for up to six months depending on the severity, but in Gordon's case he was able to avoid major surgery with the club's medical staff putting him through an extensive rehabilitation program to get him back on the field.
"The medical staff and everyone's happy…I'm happy. I wouldn't be back if I wasn't confident in it. Last week was a little bit rusty but not due to the pec or anything like that. This week I felt heaps better," Gordon told media on Monday afternoon.
"There was a lot of toing and froing with the medical staff because at the actual time I didn't know I'd done anything. That's why I didn't think it was that serious, and then we went down the route where we thought we could do a pretty extensive rehab program and be a chance of at least playing before the semis. Luckily enough it's turned out that way."
Currently in his 12th NRL season, it would have been a cruel blow had the custodian been forced to go under the knife for season-ending surgery with a premiership a realistic chance, but according to Gordon, the thought of missing out on glory never crossed his mind.
The 33-year-old is confident he will see out the season and will then re-assess the need for surgery ahead of the 2018 campaign after he signed a one-year extension to stay at the Roosters.
"I think we'll just see how it pulls up at the end of the year. We'll probably do all the scans and all that stuff but at the moment I'm fully confident in it," he said.
"None of that really crossed my mind. I'm signed for next year so that was another thing I had to weigh up. It was a lot of process to go through but I'm confident we made the right choice."
There could be some more good news ahead of the game against the Gold Coast with hulking winger Daniel Tupou a chance to return from a groin injury that has kept him out for the past three weeks.
"He's been running around for a couple of weeks now," Gordon said. "I don't know how far along he is but he's pushing hard for this week as far as I know."
