After an e-bike collision knocked his campaign off track, a remorseful Billy Smith is determined to remain in the saddle for the rest of the Sydney Roosters' season.
Smith is arguably the unluckiest player in the competition, with a horrific run of injuries restricting the 26-year-old to just 48 first-grade games since his 2019 debut.
The talented centre was poised to start the year with a bang but his season was interrupted with an abrupt crash when Smith - not wearing a helmet - fell off the back of an electric bike being driven by teammate Egan Butcher.
As a result of a concussion sustained in the crash, Smith missed the Roosters' round two grudge match with South Sydney and only returned to NRL action in Saturday's defeat to Melbourne after being kept on the sidelines by a fresh knee issue.
Players regularly ride e-bikes between the Roosters' training fields and performance centre in Sydney's Moore Park precinct.
"It's a good life lesson for me and I think for a lot of people to be honest," Smith said.
"Those things are great in so many ways, but they can also be pretty dangerous, so you've got to be safe.
"I won't lie that it's been a challenging couple of months.
"The bike and the head were something completely separate, so the knee has been a struggle over the last couple of months, but it's in a good place at the moment."
Smith's return to fitness is a welcome boost for Trent Robinson's side, who have been caught short in the outside backs with Hugo Savala having to fill in at centre amid injuries to winger Daniel Tupou and rugby union-bound Mark Nawaqanitawase.
But the Roosters' patchwork starting side may be starting to show its shortcomings, with the defeat to the Storm on Saturday following a Magic Round loss to North Queensland.
Fox Sports vision showed a visibly frustrated Robinson laying down the law to his side following the Melbourne defeat, after the Roosters made 18 errors.
The third-placed Roosters (7-4) face reigning minor premiers Canberra (5-7) on Friday.
"It's unacceptable to complete at 61 per cent in the NRL and Robbo said that we can't be doing that," said Savala.
"We took our lessons and we're never not going to play Roosters style footy. We need to individually be better and as a collective.
"We probably needed it (a dressing down) after that game. That wasn't good enough. We definitely deserved to get a bit of a hiding."
