Storm centre Justin Olam says he had been looking forward to going home to PNG before NRL finals reprieve

Melbourne centre Justin Olam thought his season was accomplished after being dropped in July.

The Papua New Guinea star struggled to discover his explosive finest this 12 months after a sequence of harm setbacks curtailed his pre-season.

Olam’s axing after the Storm’s spherical 21 defeat to Newcastle appeared to spell the top for him in first grade 2023.

And the 29-year-old was content material with that.

“I never thought I was going to come back in (this season) because the boys were playing really well,” Olam informed AAP.

“It’s hard to change a winning team.

“That was my mindset. I used to be simply looking forward to going home (to PNG after the season ended), have a break and are available again prepared to go for pre-season.

“But it was good that I was ready to play and then the opportunity came for me to come back and play first grade again.”

Olam was informed to enhance his health before returning to the Storm’s 17.

Groin points and a damaged arm throughout a trial match in February meant he was already coming from a low base when he made his first look of the season in spherical three in opposition to Gold Coast.

“I’ve had some things that I needed to work on (since being dropped), and I’m still working on, that the coaches wanted me to do,” Olam stated.

“There’s some things with my fitness that I needed to work on, especially because I had a pretty bad run in pre-season.

“I did not actually get the nice conditioning that I wanted throughout pre-season so I’ve been engaged on that the previous few weeks and have misplaced just a few kgs.”

As nicely as winger Reimis Smith, Olam was introduced out of exile for the Storm’s sudden-death semi-final in opposition to the Sydney Roosters final Friday evening.