Haumole Olakau'atu credits Call of Duty sessions in his 'man cave' for helping heal the troublesome calf injury he feared would deny him a second State of Origin cap.
Four days after making his NSW debut from the bench in game one on June 5,Olakau'atu limped from the field in the first half of Manly's round-14 loss to Penrith.
Scans showed no serious damage to the forward's calf but he nevertheless needed time to heal the injury,with ice,compression and resting all prescribed by the Sea Eagles medical staff ahead of round 15.
All the while,Olakau'atu was fearing for his spot in the NSW team,as a result of both his calf complaint and NSW's 38-10 loss to Queensland in game one.
'I was worried (about the injury) at the start of (that) week,if I was being honest,' Olakau'atu said.
Olakau'atu (left) is pictured celebrating after he scored a try in Manly's big win over the Dragons last weekend
'I've just got to stay up to date with that calf niggle,' he said on Tuesday.
'The calf is feeling a bit sore right now so I'll probably just have to ease into it tomorrow or if not have a bit of a longer warm-up.'
Olakau'atu will still get his Call of Duty fix during NSW's camp for game two; he packed his PlayStation 5 in his luggage.
'When I get to Leura,I'm plugging it in straight away and having a few games,' he said.
Queensland
