James Tamou was in a Townsville hospital bed on Monday when Laurie Daley announced his NSW team for game one, suffering more pain with an infected butt cheek than he did when a bulging disc in his neck threatened his career.
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The North Queensland front rower played Friday night's game against Brisbane with a boil the size of a five-cent piece above his left hamstring, contracting an infection after it was cut out on Sunday morning.
He went into hospital that afternoon and spent 19 hours recovering before he was discharged and allowed to join his Blues teammates in Sydney.
"I missed the first day of camp because I spent the first night in hospital on a drip," Tamou said.
"What it was, was an infection just below the left [buttock] cheek and top of the hammy. It hurt so bad. The doctor cut it out and put me on antibiotics and I after that I started to feel ill. The bags were packed, ready to go and then I started to feel ill.
"I called the doctor and he admitted me to hospital and I spent the night there on a drip. I had heard of stories of players being in hospital for a while because of staph infections. It's no laughing matter, that really stops you in your tracks, so I was a bit worried about that. But after I started to feel a bit better overnight, I knew I was right and wanted to come straight down."
Tamou missed the Blues' bonding session on a private boat in Sydney Harbour on Monday, arriving into camp later that night before they boarded a plane for their camp base in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday.
The premiership-winning prop, who is expected to train with the squad on Wednesday unhampered by the infection, is no stranger to pain, but he insists the discomfort of the infection was like nothing he'd experienced.
"The pain was unbearable. I haven't had that sort of pain before. It was a different pain to the neck, more of a sharper pain. I couldn't walk properly. Sitting down, I had to lean on one side. Those basics things.
"On Sunday when I was starting to feel really sick, the doctor said you're going to have to go into hospital. I told him that I'm going to have to call Laurie. He said 'I'll call him for you'. Laurie was great, he said whatever gets him right for this game make sure he's 100 per cent to come down."
Tamou, who last week was close to agreeing to terms to join the Panthers, has decided to put off contract discussions until after Origin I at ANZ Stadium.
The Cowboys seemed resigned to losing the Australian representative but he is now doubting whether he should leave the Cowboys despite the family benefits of moving to Sydney.
"We want to weigh everything up so I guess this is where this [suggestions he won't be coming to Penrith] has come from ... me staying in Townsville and not coming to Sydney," Tamou said.
"I just wanted to say, we'll probably want to weigh up family matters first and we'll see how we go with family coming first and if that means coming down to Sydney, so be it. Because it's a big move. I never want to leave the Cowboys, but family reasons always come first. Because I've had a few meetings now with the Cowboys, things are going back and forth. But I haven't come out and said anything, I just want to weigh everything up.
"I've actually told my manager Sam Ayoub that I want to put things on hold because last week we had the loss against Melbourne and then the next week was Johnno's [Johnathan Thurston] 250th game, so I didn't want this to overshadow any of that. I haven't actually heard from him since then, which is really good. Definitely put it on hold, probably until hopefully after this first Origin. Coming into camp, I just wanted to get into camp and focus on that. When I get some time off I'll sit down with my wife and really talk about it."
