David Givney could easily have every right to turn his back on Cronulla's bid for a premiership on Sunday.
Among four staff sacked by the then Sharks board three years ago, in the early days of the ASADA firestorm, the former club doctor became, in his own words, persona non grata in the sports medicine world despite being later cleared by the NRL over the supplements program that took place at Cronulla five years ago.
Givney had been with the club since 1987, through the good times and the bad, and his exit arrived in the most unceremonious fashion.
Yet time has healed the wounds of that period for the veteran medico, and he will be at ANZ Stadium on Sunday to barrack for the club he has supported since he was a boy.
"I've bought my six tickets," Givney said on Wednesday. "I'm looking forward to going along with my family. One of my daughters lives in Melbourne and she's flying up for it.
"I've been a Sharks supporter my whole life and I spent 27 of my years down there. How could I not love every second of this week and how they've been playing?"
While Givney was cleared in December 2013 by an NRL integrity unit investigation into the administration of banned peptides to players overseen by sports scientist Stephen Dank, there was further vindication in the NSW Supreme Court earlier this year.
In an ultimately unsuccessful defamation action brought by Dank against Nationwide News, publisher of the Daily Telegraph, former player Broderick Wright gave evidence that players had been told to hide the extent of Dank's role at the club from the doctor.
When Givney was finally made aware that injections had been taking place four weeks into the 2011 season he "blew my stack", he said in court, and in an email to head coach Shane Flanagan ordered that the regime be stopped.
The notorious episode affected his health and was damning for him professionally, too. A former Australian team doctor the other consultancy jobs the doctor had, with Cricket Australia, Cricket NSW and the Sydney Thunder Big Bash League franchise, dried up, although he is chief medical officer with the NSWRL.
Givney would have loved to have been at the grand final in an official capacity on Sunday, but despite Cronulla apologising for his dismissal four months after he was shown the door he never returned.
He says, however, that he is delighted simply that the Sharks are there on the final day of the season, with a long-awaited premiership in their sights.
"I'm very happy to be an ordinary Sharks fan and I'm looking forward to watching on Sunday from the grandstand," said Givney, a well-known figure in the Cronulla area who is also a stalwart of Sutherland District Cricket Club.
"I see some of the players now and again. I don't have any ill feeling towards the club at all. I only have fond memories of my time there."
There will be no shortage of vintage Sharks jumpers at Homebush Bay on Sunday. Expect Givney to be decked out in one.
"I've got a jersey for nearly every year I was there, so a few of the old jerseys will be coming out."
