IT was a routine ankle operation supposed to keep Stephen Hoiles out for three months, and ended up sidelining him for three years.

But after a frustrating journey of failed comebacks, chronic pain and a trip across the globe to finally rid himself of injury, Hoiles hopes to resurrect his career tomorrow when he plays for the Waratahs in a trial match in Albury.

The former Wallaby forward will pull on the NSW strip for the first time since 2006 in a pre-season clash with the Rebels, and while others may be seeking to simply blow off cobwebs, it shapes as one of the most important hours of footy in Hoiles' life.

"I view it like that. I am outside the squad, I don't have a contract so it all comes down to this really," Hoiles said. "I have to prove that I can work my way into the squad and contribute."

NSW coach Michael Cheika likes to include hill sprints and the Coogee Stairs into pre-season training; not because it's overly valued by conditioning staff but because it gives him clear insight into a player's ticker. Who doesn't quit and who eases up on the last flight.

media_camera Nick Phipps runs the ball during a Waratahs training session at Moore Park

Hoiles' ankle stopped him from doing stairs but knowing what his former Randwick charge has been through in recent years, Cheika already has ample insight into the 32-year-old.

The 16-Test Wallaby backrower hasn't played professionally since clean-up surgery following the Brumbies' season in 2010 began a torturous stint out of the game.

Hoiles had only recently returned to the Wallabies squad after a three-year absence when he advised to repair a niggly left ankle tendon (which hadn't stopped him playing all year) and potentially return as early as the Spring Tour.

"It was: 'we'll give you a little op mate, clean you up and you'll be right by the end of the year'," Hoiles said. "It was a disaster, really."

Hoiles did his rehab but after returning to training, the tendon injury flared up. A routine of more rehab and more flare ups then followed for the rest of 2011, and with a second season of uncertainty ahead, Jake White let him go in 2012.

media_camera Back in blue, Kurtley Beale jinks between defenders at Waratahs training at Moore Park.

The chronic injury sidelined him for another full year.

"The biggest issue was no-one could tell me what was wrong with it. I saw the best tendon researcher at the AIS and did everything he said, and then it still came back quite quickly," Hoiles said.

"It never made any sense to me when I had an operation three years ago that was supposed to keep me out for 12 weeks, it would turn into three years. I always knew if I got my foot right I could play footy again. But certainly with a young family you have to make serious decisions about whether to push on."

Hoiles - with the support of his family - decided last year to give it "a final throw of the dice" and travelled to Sweden to see world-renowned tendon expert Dr Dr Hakan Alfredson. Ultra-sound scans and a three-hour operation finally solved the mystery.

"The biggest thing was they found a loose bone fragment, it had lodged itself up at the back the tendon. What they think happened was it had been sucked in there in that 2010 op," Hoiles said.

After an intense two-month rehab program with trainer Joseph Coyne in Queensland, Hoiles finally returned to action in two games for Randwick last year.

So desperate to convince an onlooking Cheika to give him a shot, Hoiles played the last game of the year with a dodgy hamstring knowing it would tear if he went all-out, as required.

media_camera Waratahs coach Michael Cheika, accused of being intense, lays down the law at training.

It did tear but the pain paid off; Cheika invited the 31-year-old - who he coached in the 2003 and title-winning 2004 Randwick side - to train over summer with his squad.

"He's said literally nothing (since)," Hoiles grins. "Nah, I had a chat with him before Christmas and we agreed I'd train until the first trial, and we'll see what happens from there.

"He does a good job of keeping people on their toes. He's pretty intense."

Hoiles, who has been pain free since the Sweden trip, is hoping to land one of two spots still open in the Waratahs squad.

He is treating the Albury trial like a Test match; not just for himself but for the family that supported him through three years of uncertainty.

"They're the ones who know what's gone into it," Hoiles says.

"It hasn't been easy. You put a lot of things on hold. Life has gone on hold a bit to try and play more footy, so I am grateful to get this opportunity. It feels good."

Originally published as Hoiles's facing Test of fitness