Manly co-captain Jason King says he's put the agony of missing the end of his side's 2011 NRL premiership campaign firmly behind him, declaring he's feeling fit and fresh following his extended break from the game.
King tore his pectoral in the Round 22 win over the Roosters in August and was forced to watch the club's charge to grand-final glory from the sidelines.
"It's definitely in the past, I sort of dealt with it when I got the injury," a heavily bearded King said on Tuesday.
"It was very disappointing to miss that stage of the season but as every rugby league player knows it comes with the territory and it's something you've got to get used to pretty quickly and make sure it doesn't rub off on your team-mates ... it was very important that I remained positive."
The former NSW prop played the second half of Manly's 38-6 trial loss to Cronulla on Friday night and will travel to England as part of a 20-man squad for the Sea Eagles' World Club Challenge clash against Leeds Rhinos at Headingly Stadium on February 18.
He concedes his lengthy layoff could prove a blessing in disguise.
"Obviously it was disappointing to miss the back end of last season but I guess to draw some positives out of it, it's given the body a longer rest than usual and got me I guess better prepared for 2012 in terms of making sure my body's on track and ready to play," he said.
"I'm feeling good, done plenty of rehab since the back-end of last season obviously so it's had plenty of time to recover and I've done some tough training and ready to play."
While new head coach Geoff Toovey has promised his players a few days to let their hair down in Leeds, King insists the trip is anything but a holiday.
"It is a special game and it's fantastic to be a part of it," he said.
"It's important and we want to play really well."
"We've been training nice and hard and we played a trial last weekend that showed we were probably a little bit off the pace ... going over to England though it's different circumstances to a usual pre-season trial game."
"It's good for the team, it's going to get us together for a week overseas which is a good way to start the year and we want to go over there and play really well."
Meanwhile, Toovey revealed winger David 'Wolfman' Williams is yet to prove his fitness for the Rhinos clash after suffering a broken neck late last season.
"He has to get through some more fitness stuff, he hasn't been running much of late," Toovey said of Williams.
"If he's fighting fit you'd assume he'd be in the side."
"He's flying at the moment and he's happy to be back in the game - that confidence he gets from his injury being cleared and the doctors, I think that's all he needs."