Siliva Havili worked tirelessly to earn the Canberra Raiders No. 9 jersey, but he will be more than happy to release it in the next six weeks.
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He even thinks the Raiders will be better for it.
But Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has no plans to abandon Havili when first choice hooker Josh Hodgson returns from an anterior cruciate ligament tear - he says they will be a better team with both in the game day 17.
Havili and Hodgson are almost polar opposites. The Tongan international doesn't say much on the field, while the Englishman effectively acts as a second halfback.
Hodgson is targeting Canberra's round 16 clash with the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium for his return after injuring his knee at last year's World Cup, with Havili's efforts as cover set to earn him a contract extension.
"Hodgo is a real quality player and with what he brings to the team, we’re only going to get better," Havili said.
"For myself, hopefully we get a good combination and hopefully we can work things out between minutes, how we play the team and what my role is going to be then.
"It’s going to be an exciting time when he comes back, it’s only going to be better for the team and better for the combinations of our spine."
Havili concedes it has taken time to strike up a combination with Canberra's halves after plenty of chopping and changing in the opening weeks of the season.
That has left Havili, Sezer and Blake Austin in danger of overplaying their hands at crucial moments which has contributed to Canberra's rocky start to the season.
While Stuart often backs his players to trust their flamboyant attacking instincts, Havili says it cannot come at the expense of "game awareness".
But now Havili has learnt to leave the reins to Sezer, because when he does "everything becomes a lot more fluent".
"At times we do want to overplay a bit but we all see different things and know when it comes to all the ownership and that we leave it to Aidan to run, everything becomes a lot smoother and everything becomes a lot more fluent, everything that we do," Havili said.
"That’s the frustrating bit about it. We know how we all play and it’s just about knowing when to throw that ball, the game awareness and the game management, how we know when to put it to the sideline or put them in corners, or where we turn the ball over.
"It’s just about that game management. We might see something else but the defence all of a sudden closes it. We’re all good footy players, we play eyes up and everything.
"At the end of the day it comes down to Chicken and Austo’s decision."
Stuart says Hodgson's impending return will be a huge boost for Sezer because the English star mirrors a second No. 7 with his dominance across the park.
"Josh Hodgson back will make us a stronger team, with Liva in the team... He has been a massive, massive loss to us, and he has been a massive loss to Aidan Sezer as well," Stuart said.
"What Liva Havili has done this year as a young boy coming into a brand new team with brand new halves, he has been so good for us.
"He has helped us be on 10 points, but getting Josh back is going to be a massive boost for the whole team, just mentally as one of our great players, but just also having him around the park."
