New Zealand Warriors fans are more than familiar with Shaun Johnson who returns to the club next season after a three-year stint with the Cronulla Sharks.
But the 31-year-old playmaker says he is a different man and a different player to the young star that bedazzled, yet frustrated fans in his eight-year stay with the club.
Johnson says there are "a million reasons" his second time around at the Warriors will be different and he's willing to make personal sacrifices to ensure the success of his teammates.
Fresh out of quarantine at the club's 2021 home base in Redcliffe, Johnson reveals it was on the golf course where he had to convince 2021 stand-in captain Tohu Harris and club owner Mark Robinson, that he was the right fit for the Warriors.
Convince them he did, and now the former Golden Boot winner is aching to show fans he can bring success to the club he loves.
"When I left [for the Cronulla Sharks], I guess I never thought I would be back," Johnson says.
"I'm confident we can build something special here to start the year and then we get to go back to Mount Smart Stadium for a few home games - nothing like running out in front of that crowd."
But the season doesn't come without sacrifices for Johnson who leaves behind wife Kayla Cullen and baby daughter Millah, who have relocated back to New Zealand.
Johnson admits he thought the 2022 campaign would see the club based in Auckland for the entirety, but without a stable trans-Tasman bubble, that just isn't a reality.
"This is by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It wasn't a nice feeling leaving them behind.
"It wasn’t a nice feeling, it wasn’t something that we had written down for what the next couple of years was going to look like for us as a family.
"But this is just the cards that not just us but a lot of people have been dealt in this current climate.
"When I think about opportunities, what’s at stake and the reward of that sacrifice, it’s certainly worth it.
"I don’t take leaving my family lightly and for me the focus is making everything a winner while I’m here.
"Not leaving any stone unturned and trying to be the best possible version of myself every day and win some footy games while I’m doing that."
But the Kiwis international is excited for his wife, had has been called into the Silver Ferns; training camp scheduled for mid December.
He says Cullen has always wanted to taste international netball again, and that is the reason she has remained home with their infant daughter.
"She’s had to work so hard just to put herself in the conversation.
"It’s bittersweet me leaving, because the reason why they can’t come is for Kayla’s career.
"She’s given up two or three years of it to come to Sydney with me and start a family and now it’s her turn to jump back into her career.
"That’s the sole reason why they’re not here now and I’m fully supportive of that.
"The silver lining in all of this, I miss my family, I miss my little girl, but knowing that Millah is going to get to watch her mum play and be in the stands and go onto a netball court after a game, it’s all these little things that add up to making this sacrifice worth it."
Johnson finds himself surrounded by a trickle of familiar faces, a new coach and nearly an entire squad of fresh faces that were not at the club when Johnson last played.
"There's three or four guys left over from four years ago - a fresh crop of players and a different coaching staff but that's exciting."
Johnson says he is a different player as well and his professional and personal experiences over the last four years will show that in 2022.
"It's experience," Johnson says.
"This is a homecoming, but there are a million reasons why this will be different."
"To take this team around the paddock - to take the Warriors to a Grand Final and experience that - it would never be forgotten."
