Haze Dunster prepares to return from year-long injury with the support of cultural connection

First, he learned how to walk again after busting his ACL, MCL and PCL just 15 minutes into the Eels’ first pre-season trial against the Dragons.

The 23-year-old also learned more about himself, reading and journaling in an effort to pass the time between rehab sessions.

But the most rewarding part of his lengthy recovery was reconnecting with his roots by learning Te Reo Māori via a weekly online course.

Born in Rotorua – where this weekend’s NRL All Stars game will be held – Dunster spent the first 10 years of his life in Tūrangi, near Taupō, before moving to Australia when his dad found work across the ditch.

The family used to head back for Christmas every year, but with his footy career taking off, and Covid causing travel dramas, Dunster hasn’t been back home since 2019.

So, the course was a great way to reconnect with his Māori side, while keeping himself busy during those lonely months away from his teammates.

“I’ve always known I’m Māori and stuff, but there were a few of us who wanted to reconnect and get in touch on a deeper level by learning our language,” Dunster tells CODE Sports.

“I’m close with Hayze Perham – I’m rooming with him now – and Wiremu Greig was really keen as well.

“Hayze and I just wanted to be able to speak a bit more Māori to each other, and we’d come together and test each other out in homework and stuff as well.

“It was mainly good just to get that connection with our roots and our culture.”

Despite connecting with mates by speaking Te Reo and sharing homework notes, Dunster admits the mental struggle was intense last year.

Eels medicos initially tried to deliver positive news, hoping for “just a PCL or MCL” injury, but an hour after the incident at CommBank Stadium, Dunster knew something was seriously wrong.

“When it happened, I heard a ‘pop’, and I’d never heard that before, and when I put a brace on, I could still fit my whole hand inside it,” he says.

“But 10 minutes later, the swelling had filled it right up to the brace and I couldn’t even get my shoe off or bend my leg to get in the car.”

As the Eels started the season strongly, Dunster had surgery on his MCL. Five weeks later, just as he was beginning to get movement back in the knee, he had ACL surgery, followed by six weeks on crutches and another four weeks in a brace as he learned how to walk again.

At times, he says, he wondered whether he’d ever get back to playing at all.

“Yeah, heaps of thoughts like that,” he says. “The hardest thing was being away from it all. The boys are a tight-knit group during the season, but I was off getting scans, having check-ins with the doc and doing rehab.

“It was a long process, but the hardest part of it all was the mental side.”

His teammates made sure to keep him in the loop as much as possible. Isaiah Papali’i took him out for breakfast each weekend, while Brad Arthur made sure he was heavily involved during grand final week.

He also had company in the rehab room after Ray Stone ruptured his ACL scoring a match-winning try in a round four win over Melbourne.

“At least he got a try out of it and they won the game,” Dunster laughs. “I was 15 minutes into a trial game.

“But it is pretty cool just to see how far I’ve come, pretty much learning to walk again, then running and now doing full contact with the boys again.”

Dunster is racing the clock to be ready for Parra’s opening match of the season against Melbourne on March 2, and is adamant the Eels can go a step further than last year.

“It was mean seeing the boys do the job last year, but I was a bit cut as well, knowing I could’ve had a chance of going to a grand final, but it is what it is,” he says, even as he still seems to be adjusting to being part of the team again.

“Hopefully they can go all the way this season … or we will go all the way. That’s the plan.”