Axed by St George Illawarra and playing in front of a couple of thousand people in a semi-professional, second-tier competition in England, you could forgive Dane Nielsen for thinking his NRL career had come to an end.

After being thrown a late pre-season lifeline by South Sydney, the former Queensland centre is now preparing for another shot in the top grade. The 30-year-old made his return to the NRL in the second half of the Rabbitohs' 18-14 Charity Shield win against his former club on Saturday.

Nielsen was sacked by the Dragons, two games into a two-year deal, last March after a woman claimed he bit her on the leg during a drinking session at a Cronulla nightspot. His axing led to him finishing 2015 playing for the Bradford Bulls in the level below the English Super League before returning to Australia uncertain if he would again play in the NRL.

"[Getting sacked] was a difficult time," Nielsen said in his first interview since returning to Australia. "I'm not really worried about it any more. I am lucky enough to have been given an opportunity [at South Sydney]. I'm not even worried about that any more. It doesn't faze me. I've been given an opportunity now, I'm going to make the most of it. [Playing in England] was OK. It was a different style of footy. It was division one and the facilities and grounds were a lot different to what I'm used [to]. It was OK but I'm glad to be back here having an opportunity to play at Souths."