Two seasons ago lock Liaki Moli had the rugby world at his feet.
A member of the 2010 World Junior Rugby World Cup-winning team, he was named the New Zealand junior rugby player of the year.
A Super Rugby contract seemed likely to be just around the corner.
But a debilitating shoulder injury in one of his first games in which he popped his shoulder and the ligaments tore off which put him out for six months. That left him only able to do a lot of fitness work with plenty of running and not surprisingly that had its detractions after a while.
Having missed a prospective Super Rugby season he came back in for last year's ITM Cup and did his AC joint in his shoulder.
It was even more frustrating when a hamstring injury niggled him at training on Tuesday and had him concerned whether he would be able to get a shot in the side's second warm-up game.
Coach Pat Lam said Moli was so enthusiastic he threw his big body around and his chances of injury were high so the team management was working with him to resolve that without restricting him in his work ethic.
Moli, 22, said he was never frustrated during his injury periods. He was on the sideline with the team and trained with them as often as he could and that kept his motivation to await his chance alive.
"It just kept playing on your mind whether you came back at the right time. It's all mental, it just plays in your head," he said.
However, having the smallest of tastes of match play, and then gaining an understanding of all that was involved in preparation, had helped ease him into the demands of Super Rugby.
"When I started the pre-season training for this season I started thinking maybe having that injury wasn't so bad after all. I did struggle but I did get the flow and am now starting to get the hang of things. I find it a lot easier now."
As a young player in the side, it had been a significant advantage to have two All Blacks in Ali Williams and Anthony Boric at hand to help in his advance.
"They help us with tips and if we are doing something wrong they will come along and point that out for us," he said.
Not surprisingly, Moli is keeping focused on his career goals, top of the list is to get through the Super Rugby team without a significant injury.
While there have been significant changes within the Blues line-up for 2012, there was a level of excitement in the squad which was aiming to do better than the fourth place they achieved last year.