Melbourne utility Ryan Hinchcliffe feared he had lost it all.

Blown his chance at playing in an NRL grand final with a knee injury suffered very late in the preliminary final win over Brisbane.

That was until he woke up on Monday morning.

Gone was the knee soreness and his full range of movement had returned after a cortisone injection he received on Sunday.

He still won't train with the squad until at least Thursday, but the 24-year-old Canberra recruit is now a certain starter in his grand final debut against Parramatta.

"I had a flash of the whole season gone before my eyes," recalled Hinchcliffe.

"Obviously when you can't feel your foot you know something is not real good.

"But once I spoke to the physios they thought it was all sweet.

"I was still worried yesterday because it was still sore when I got out of bed, but after today I knew it was good.

"A lot of the soreness is gone and the range of movement is back."

Hinchcliffe's value to the Storm cannot be under-rated.

While he is effectively Cameron Smith's understudy, he averages around half an hour of game time each week allowing the Test hooker a break from dummy half duties and a chance to become a third playmaker.

It is a massive change from last year when he was a starting hooker at the Raiders and Hinchcliffe admits he has had to accept the lesser involvement for the sake of being part of a winning team.

"I'm quite comfortable with saying that is my role," he said.

"That is the role the coach wants me to play and it's still a pretty important role to come off the bench and fill a few different positions.

"I know I've got a role to play for the team. I'm happy with what I'm doing, it doesn't hurt the ego at all."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP