The Gerringong product will continue a late-career renaissance in a Blues jumper on Sunday night after playing a blinder in his first Origin start in game one. A form resurgence under Griffin at the Dragons this year has had plenty to do with his recall, but it's fair to say early days under his current mentor at the Broncos proved a tough school.

The now 32-year-old told Smack Panda podcast this week that he actually thought Griffin "hated him" when he tagged along with brothers Ashton and Korbin in 2008.

"I was at a crossroad in my life, all I wanted to do was muck around with my mates and drink and party on the weekend," Sims told Smack Panda.

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"Korbin signed with the Broncos as a young kid, when he 14 years old, and Ashton was already playing first grade for for the Dragons.

"They signed Korbin, then they signed Ashton and they said 'you know there's a third brother'. [The club] asked 'does he go any good' and they said 'no but it'll be a good story', so I literally signed with Brisbane as a newspaper story."

It was fair to say Griffin wasn't all that enamoured with the scrawny kid that turned up to play on the wing.

"I was 70 kilos, and Anthony Griffin just said 'I don't know what you want to do but football ain't it'," Sims recalled.

He was sent away and told he wouldn't be playing until he was a hundred kilos and switched from the wing to prop. Returning for the 2009 season 12 kilos heavier, he played every game off the bench but the message from Griffin remained blunt.

"I walked into his office towards the back end of [2009] and said 'what do I need to do to be your starting prop?' and he said 'you need to put on another 10 kilos'," Sims said.

"I played every game that year [2010] and every game he just picked on me and picked on me. One game made a 90-metre break off the kick-off and passed it off to my back-rower to score.

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"I got hooked and the message came down 'front-rowers don't do that, you make a break you pass the ball'. He was just always into me, I'm thinking 'he just doesn't like me, ever since I've come here he's told me to put more weight on, he's pulling me off the field'.

"It's one of those things where I loved him and respected him as a coach, but I just didn't know what his problem was with me."

It was only at the end of that season when he was named NYC Player of the Year he learned there was method to Griffin's apparent madness.

"After I got the award he called me up and said 'come talk to me' and I'm thinking he's going to tell me to put on another 10 kilos," Sims said.

"He sat me down and said 'mate, I'm proud of you, I could see it in you from the start but I was driving you because I knew what I could get out of you.

"The penny dropped, he didn't hate me, he made me. He saw I was a crossroads in 2008... he saw something in me he could pull out of me.

"The whole time I'm thinking 'this bloke hates me' but he motivated me through determination to prove him wrong. The rest is history... that launched me into a contract at North Queensland where my career took off and I've been [in the NRL] ever since."

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