'Feel like I've been out for a year': Jahrome Hughes relieved as risky injury return pays off for Storm

A stint on the sidelines due to injury in the final weeks of the season left Melbourne playmaker Jahrome Hughes feeling like he had "been out for the whole year".

The 30-year-old endured a horror run of injuries to finish the regular season, managing just one game in the two months before the preliminary final clash.

Hughes' return in the preliminary final was one many, including coach Craig Bellamy, was unsure would happen, given he had surgery on a broken wrist three weeks ago.

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Just five weeks prior to breaking his wrist, Hughes had been forced to the sidelines due to a shoulder dislocation, which did not require surgery.

He lasted 30 minutes on his return from that shoulder injury before breaking his wrist.

"I feel like I've been out for the whole year," Hughes told Nine after the Storm defeated the Cronulla Sharks to secure a spot in the 2025 grand final on Friday night.

"It was great to be back with the boys and to play in front of our home fans ... it is a great feeling. [The wrist] feels good. I'm really happy to be back.

"I'm ready to go and recover. I'm ready to go for next week."

Many league greats had warned that it may be too early to bring Hughes back in the preliminary final, but the star halfback was confident that he would be OK to play.

While Bellamy admitted post-match he was not "overly confident" to name Hughes this week, club medics insisted that there was no reason not to name the halfback to play.

"He was adamant all week that he was going to play," Bellamy told Nine post-match.

"I wasn't overly confident early in the week ... but he just showed a lot of confidence and had a good game.

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"He ticked a few boxes with the medical people. They said, 'Well, we can't see a whole heap of reasons for him not to play'. I just went up to him and said, 'Mate, if you're going to play, you need to do the job,' and he said I'll do the job.

"When he says that, he is confident and ready to go."

Hughes' return came at the expense of Jonah Pezet, who had been a strong performer in the halves while the New Zealand international was sidelined.

But the confidence of Hughes in training this week was all Bellamy needed to make the call on Pezet's time in first grade for this season.

"It was a big call to leave Jonah out because he did really well last week," he continued in his post-match press conference.

"But when (Hughes) spoke to me ... he was just so confident that I couldn't leave him out, to be honest. He is not a cocky kid at all, so when he told me, I knew he'd be ready.

"With the break he has had, there are a fair few parts of his body that would get back to normal. It is hard work playing every week and being one of the smaller players in the team. The opposition will aim their attack at the halves a fair bit.

"(Cronulla) were always going to test him out and he knew that. I think he swapped positions a couple of times to make it harder for them to get at him.

"At the end of the day, he wasn't hesitant with his running game at all or with his kicking.

"It was sort of a regeneration for him, I suppose," Bellamy added.

"To get over the injury that he had was quite remarkable.

"With all due respect, he was one of our better players."