A BONE broth recommended by Melbourne Storm star Cooper Cronk could have been the secret to Daniel Cross’ remarkable return from a fractured leg.

The midfielder has been named to play against Hawthorn at the MCG this Saturday and is ready to go – after being on the cusp last week.

But in the process of being sidelined since round 14, Cross worked tirelessly to get back on the paddock. Part of his rehab included drinking a bone broth, which he said could have played a part in his comeback, even if it was “quite rank”.

“My wife wasn’t a huge fan of the stench that it brought on during the process of cooking it,” he told Dee TV.

“We train with the Storm and crossover with them in the gym and I’d been speaking to Cooper Cronk and one of their weights guys Dan (Di Pasqua) about this bone broth, because Cooper had been using it in his rehab from his fractured wrist.

“I looked it up and I went to the South Melbourne Market and purchased all of my produce and I cooked these organic beef bones. You put them in the slow cooker for 48 hours and it’s supposed to dry all the good minerals out of it.

“I had it at every dinner for a week or who knows if it worked or not, but it can’t have been doing me any harm. I really did dread coming to dinner time, because it wasn’t really pleasant on the palate. I managed to get it down and who knows – it might’ve got me to this stage?”

Cross said he wouldn’t drink it regularly and “would take it out of the repertoire now”. Still, he said if it aided his return, he was all for it.

“It may have worked – it may not have, but I’ll give anything a try once,” he said.

Cross said it was an interesting build-up to last round, when he did everything in his power to play. In the end, he was an emergency against the Lions.

“Coming from the Monday and Tuesday – the training that I’d done, I was quite proppy earlier in the week,” he said.

“As the week progressed, I got better each day and got better and better and it just turned out that it was Wednesday or Thursday that the coaches had match committee and they were asking the physios how I was tracking.

“At that stage, they said I was a training session short, so I was really ruled out at that stage. I got to the end of Friday’s main session and got through everything with the main group and felt really good.

“I felt like I was running well and not carrying my leg, and [I had] a quick discussion with Jade [Rawlings] and Misso (Dave Misson) about whether I thought I could play the game and I said ‘absolutely’.

“With Grimesy going down with his hamstring in that session, Terls went up and me being carried over allowed Matty Jones and Gawny to play for Casey to get some more conditioning. I put my hand up to and then I prepared for a game from there, because you never know what happens from there.”

But now that he’s back, he’s more than ready to help his young teammates against the red hot Hawthorn.

“I’m very happy to be playing – that’s what everyone wants to do – is to be out there playing. I was very close to getting up last week. I was probably a session short, according to the physios, docs and fitness staff, so you respect their decision and do what you’re told,” he said.

“This week I’ve had a full week of training and we’ve got through everything really well and the leg’s feeling good, so I’m ready and raring to go.”