It's the most hackneyed of football cliches but Sydney Swans forward Henry Playfair appreciates it more than most after recovering from a hamstring injury that threatened to end his AFL career.
The Swans' mature-aged rookie spent the best part of two years battling a persistent hamstring complaint, undergoing three operations in an attempt to fix the problem.
The most recent of those - exactly a year ago, on May 27, 2009 - left Playfair facing a six-month layoff in footballing limbo.
Unable to play and without a contract for 2010, he was forced to rely on the faith of the Swans' football department for another opportunity to prove he could return to senior action.
He was ultimately delisted at the end of 2009 but the AFL's broadening of the rookie list criteria effectively saved Playfair's career, allowing coach Paul Roos to give the 198cm forward one last chance to prove his fitness.
And to his immense relief, the gamble paid off when he returned to the senior team against the Western Bulldogs in round eight and played well enough to hold his place the following week.
Playfair, 27, said he was painfully aware that his career was "on a knife's edge" throughout the pre-season as he strived to regain full fitness.
"The club had told me they were going to delist me so any slight problem I had - even a slight setback for two weeks - doesn't look good in the coaches' eyes. They're going to say 'your hammy's not up to it'," he told sydneyswans.com.au
"It all had to go smoothly and it was really do or die. The pre-season was pretty rigorous so any tear when I was sprinting would spell the end.
"It's been a good move to have the surgery and I guess it has paid off to this point."
Upon hearing the news that he would be selected for his first senior game since round 17, 2008, Playfair said his first reaction was surprise, before a flood of emotion.
"As I started to realise how long it had been and what I'd been through to get there, a bit of emotion started to kick in," he said.
"Then it died down and I started to focus on exactly what I needed to do to get out there and play a game.
"I didn't really know how I'd go and whether I'd still be able to get out there. It was a little bit like playing my first game, actually. There wasn't much idea of what to expect.
"But then I thought, 'I've played in so many big games before and some finals, I've done it all before' so I tried to relax and tell myself that I'd be all right and just focus on playing my role, which I know I can do."
The increased speed of the game in recent seasons has been a prominent talking point but Playfair said he didn't notice much difference against the Bulldogs.
However, the round-nine clash against Fremantle was a different story altogether.
"Because I spent some time the ruck, I found it a lot faster but that might have been because I got fatigued a lot quicker", he said.
"But because I'd watched the game, I knew what was coming. It's not as though I stopped playing and had nothing to do with the game. The amount of times you come to the interchange bench has gone up and I guess I was a bit more fatigued a bit earlier."
Feedback from the Swans' coaches had been reasonable, Playfair said, given his lack of football in the past two years and he gained some crucial confidence from his stint in the ruck against Freo.
Despite playing eight straight games this season, including the past month pain-free, Playfair said he still had to prepare his body meticulously for each match.
The knowledge that any injury to his troublesome hamstring - no matter how slight - could spell disaster has concentrated his mind on getting the little things right.
"I realise that I could easily not be there. Footy's such a fine line. Any form of injury for me this year is going to be pretty crucial to the rest of my career so I can't look too far ahead. That's honestly where I'm at," he said.
"A couple of bad games or a couple of bad quarters could mean I'm out of the side and struggling again. I'm just trying to enjoy the challenge at the moment."
