Warriors fans will have reason to rejoice as Shaun Johnson has been named to start in the team's home final against the Newcastle Knights this weekend.
This season has seen Johnson in the best form of his life.
Form fans always knew was there, but haven't always seen. So what's changed?
Talking to media a few weeks ago, Johnson opened up about the work he's been putting in behind the scenes with his performance coach.
"I do a lot of work with a guy called Dan Haesler, around my mental approach, and blocking out or absorbing what energy is going to be beneficial to me playing well, and this year in particular I've had to knuckle down on it more than ever," he said.
Haesler, who's based in Australia, first met Johnson in 2020 when the halfback was playing for the Cronulla Sharks.
But their work together has really clicked this year.
"People say what's the difference with Shaun? There's so many, he's home!
"He's got a coach who has got his back, he's got the boys around him that are pulling together, there's a real sense of connection there from the outside looking in it, and he's done the work. I know for a fact that this pre-season he just did every rep. We connect once a week or once every couple of weeks, and we're talking, we're doing the work and it's amazing what happens," Haesler said.
A major part of what's happened at the Warriors this year obviously stems from coach Andrew Webster.
Attending media sessions every other week at Warriors HQ, the belief Webster has instilled in the club, from the players to the staff, is extremely obvious, and every fan has been able to witness it on the field.
But it goes beyond that, said Haesler.
"To be able to go to any athlete, but also to go to Shaun and be able to say you're the man here, and we've got you, we've got your back, we want you to be you, we don't want you to be anyone else, we don't want you to listen to all the noise outside telling you how you should play, this is what we want from you - we want you to go and be Shaun, and be the best Shaun you can be - that's powerful."
What Johnson has produced this year has been a far cry from the player fans saw struggling for consistency after things broke down with the Warriors in 2018, prompting a move to Cronulla in 2019.
"I've been with Dan since I went to Cronulla, and obviously there's been some highs and there's been some lows. Physically, mentally, last year in particular, I fell away from it and it was my most challenging year," Johnson said earlier in the season.
Haesler agreed there had been tough times.
"For someone like Shaun, he's always wanted to be a dad right? And he literally had to watch his daughter grow up on his own for the first year or so of her life.
"So for people, whether they be coaches, whether they be fans, to say 'hey mate put up with it and play like you're being paid to play,' I think that just shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what it means to be human," Haesler said.
After the years away from home due to Covid, 2023 shines with milestones for Johnson. The birth of his second daughter, he's tipped as a favourite for NRL's Dally M Medal and Johnson has captivated the nation once again, just like he did as rookie 20-year-old when the Warriors played their last grand final in 2011.
But he's not the same Shaun Johnson.
"There's not many fairy tales in rugby league, but I think it's rhetoric around that he's back to where he was, or that he's rediscovered himself, I actually would position it slightly different," Haesler said.
"I would say he's evolved, I'd say he is a different player now then he was certainly in his early 20s. He plays different, his body allows him to do different things, and perhaps the way he thinks about the game has changed as well.
"Things happen when you put the work in, it doesn't always guarantee a fairy tale and who knows how this season will end, but certainly some of the recognition he's getting now is nice noise, he's had his fair share of negative noise so I think it's nice for him to be able to hear it, but then use that as fuel to really double down and really zero in now into the moments that matter."
The biggest moment comes this Saturday, when Johnson and the Warriors play the Newcastle Knights in a do-or-die playoff match at a sold out Mt Smart.
He's been named in the squad after missing out last week due to injury. Click here to view the full team lineup.
There may not be many fairy tales in sport, but this year is certainly shaping up to be one for Shaun Johnson.
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