Former Kiwi Sia Soliola was forced to take a 2200km blokes road trip to get home after a facial injury left him stranded in Townsville.
The Canberra forward suffered the bad cheekbone fracture during the Raiders defeat against the high-flying North Queensland Cowboys. Because cabin pressure can cause more damage to such injuries Soliola, club football manager John Bonasera and trainer Nigel Ashley-Jones hired a car to get back to Canberra.
Soliola had returned to the field despite knowing the seriousness of his injury which occurred early in the second half. He didn't get back to Canberra so easily taking two days - including a stopover - with his road mates to cover the distance which equates to driving from Auckland to Wellington three-and-a-half times.
"At least I've got to see a lot of Australia," the 28-year-old Soliola joked to the The Canberra Times.
"They gave me the option of staying up there but they would have had to find someone to operate and (I'd have to) stay two weeks up there post-operation.
