Emotional Tino to dig deep for Maroons – and a grieving Munster
About a year before he watched from the sidelines, recovering from a ruptured ACL, as Queensland suffered a series defeat.
Now, the softly spoken enforcer was back where he belonged.
'I love this state, everybody probably saw that in game one,' Fa'asuamaleaui said before the decider in Sydney.
'In game two, having that under control a bit more, it was still another rollercoaster. There were a few things that didn't go the way I wanted, but that's what the journey of Origin is about, and football – and even life.'
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Such was his determination to announce his comeback in full flight, Fa'asuamaleaui ventured to the US and worked with renowned conditioning expert Bill Knowles.
Even throughout the season, the 25-year-old felt below his athletic best.
'That's the rollercoaster. At the start of the year, I was still finding my lunges, and still finding the way things move on the field,' he said.
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