NRL: Friend keen to blend in for clash with Cowboys

Nathan Friend of the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

Despite his broken jaw, Nathan Friend did his best to eat the same meals as the rest of his family.

Whatever the Warriors hooker's wife and two sons would have for dinner, so would he - once he'd given it a quick blast in a blender.

That blender and a juicer, he regards as two of his better purchases in life. They helped him get through one of the toughest spells of his career.

"We use them a lot now," he says four days before his eight-week exile is due to end with a return appearance against the Cowboys. "It was the only way to have food and feel normal. The family would have their dinner. I would just put mine in the blender and add a bit of water to it to soften it down. I felt as much a part of the family as I could."

Friend's effort in playing close to a full match after shattering his jaw early on against the Broncos is now the stuff of legend. His bravery attracted both praise and admonishment, with some warning the risk to his health was too great for the reward of merely completing a footy match. All along, however, Friend has insisted he made the decision to play on with his eyes wide open. It didn't make him a hero.

"You don't want to go out there and think you are all that just because you play with a broken jaw. I knew I had another 40 minutes in me and just wanted to get the win."

While he likes to play down his effort, Friend conceded the injury did indeed hurt.

"I think most of it was adrenaline. If I tried to go out and play an hour later I would have had no chance. I have had a lot of major injuries but this was probably the most frustrating one.

"I thought being able to use my hands and feet and take care of everything would be sweet. But when you can't chew on something, it's very frustrating. The first three weeks I started to slowly eat some soft food.

"It's pretty embarrassing when you have your little boys saying that's what we used to eat when we were babies. When I could get back after two weeks' and start running I felt human again."

Friend's absence has coincided with a flat patch for the Warriors. The impressive victory over the Broncos seemed likely to be a springboard from which the club would launch a run up the NRL ladder.

Instead, painful capitulations against the Tigers and Sharks meant they won just two of the five games Friend missed. Perhaps the only positive is that the scheduling of the club's byes meant he missed just those five matches despite an eight-week convalescence.

It still feels a bit numb but a good smack from Steve Rapira during his first contact session has reassured Friend his jaw is structurally sound. He is also fit enough to go straight back to playing 80 minutes, which will be a change from the muddling through with part-timers Lewis Brown and Elijah Taylor since Alehana Mara also went down injured with a broken leg.

The Cowboys will come to town without a host of Origin stars. But given their precarious position, there is no chance the Warriors will be taking them lightly.

"We've got to take care of our own back yard," Friend said. "We haven't been 100 per cent this year in any game. We can't go into the game going 'shit they are understaffed and it is going to be a pushover'. That is certainly not the mind frame you want."