Mitch Kenny's love of birdwatching was taken off the table during his injury lay-off, so the three-time NRL premiership winner turned to another unexpected hobby: reading and writing fantasy fiction.
Kenny remains sidelined for Penrith's clash against Brisbane on Thursday but is close to recovering from the broken leg he suffered in round seven.
The hooker has resumed running in recent weeks and will play a stretch of games for the ladder-leading Panthers before another finals series begins.
"I'm itching to get back but there's also no point going back if I'm not ready," Kenny told AAP at the launch of Saturday's Beer Footy Food Festival.
Prior to his broken leg, Kenny had enjoyed a charmed run of fitness, playing more than 20 games in each of his previous four seasons.
Kenny was keen to expedite his recovery process by any means possible, dabbling in red-light therapy, hyperbaric chambers and using a bone stimulator on top of his regular physiotherapy.
"There is stuff that's probably a bit woo-woo," he said.
"(But) there's so many things you can try and do that are conventional and even unconventional to try and get better. I've tried to throw myself at all of that."
A first long-term injury of his first-grade career also left Kenny with ample spare time on his hands, but a broken leg made birdwatching difficult.
"I haven't got the binos out as much as I would've liked," he said.
"I haven't been doing as much bushwalking because a lot of that uneven terrain is stuff that I haven't been wanting to mess with too much."
It left Kenny to get a little more creative.
Kenny had been studying to become an English teacher prior to his NRL debut in 2019, and is a member of a book club.
He regularly chats literature with Panthers teammates Isaah Yeo and Lindsay Smith, and has been hitting the books especially hard the past few months.
"I feel like that's a bit of an escape for me and a good way to switch off," he said.
Kenny reads fiction, most recently finishing the sixth book of Pierce Brown's 'Red Rising' sci-fi series.
Next on his list is 'The Butcher of Nazareth', a horror novel by David Hay, while Robin Hobb's 'Farseer' trilogy has also been a favourite.
Kenny also tries his own hand at writing fantasy fiction from time to time.
"I'm not much chop, mate, but I try and dribble every now and then," Kenny said.
"More just art for art's sake sort of thing, I'm not trying to do anything with it.
"I just think it's good for me to have a creative outlet and try to use those skills and not lose those skills."