The talented backrower, who missed last year's Spring Tour late last year to take time with his family following the death of his father, admitted he had considered not returning to the sport.
But he came to the realisation it was not what his father - the man who introduced him to rugby and instilled in him a love of the sport - would have wanted.
So the player who took the field for the Wallabies as Lukhan Tui last year just days after his family tragedy, re-emerged this season as Salakaia-Loto, changing his surname to honour both his late father and birth father.
