Dylan Brown is relieved his three-week suspension is over, but also aware he has some ground to make up.
"The only way to earn respect is through good footy," Brown said.
The Parramatta Eels' five-eighth will return to the NRL fold this week after been sidelined since Round Nine for dangerous contact with Roosters half Drew Hutchison.
“Yeah, finally back. It has been a long three weeks," Brown said.
"My family thinks I’ve been laying back and having three weeks off but we probably work twice as hard.
"So my body is a bit sore at the moment, but I'm back," Brown said.
Brown contacted Hutchison to apologise after the incident which punctured his lung.
"I’ve done something silly there and I’ve learned from it," Brown said.
"In the game, obviously, I didn’t realise how serious it was but I was obviously going in there trying to save a try and I went after the game to find him but he was rushed to hospital so I sent him a message on Instagram.
"He wasn’t holding a grudge or anything and obviously there was no intention there or anything ... so you know I was thankful for that," Brown said.
Brown: It has been a long three weeks
The 20-year-old will rejoin Mitch Moses in the halves when the Eels take on the Newcastle Knights in Round 13 on Sunday.
"Yeah, I’ve got a few nerves there coming back into the team and hopefully we can start winning again," Brown said.
"There are things we need to fix.
"We have just been going out of our systems, but if we go back to what we’ve done best, we should be good and get those wins again," Brown said.
