Hughes returned for the NRL grand final qualifier at AAMI Park just 22 days after fracturing his arm in round 27, the injury requiring surgery with a plate and screws inserted.
It easily eclipsed the five weeks that was previously believed to be fastest comeback by an NRL player from a broken arm, held by prop Shane Webcke, who played in Brisbane's preliminary final win over Parramatta back in 2000.
Hughes suffered the injury after five weeks out with a dislocated shoulder, limiting his game time to just one match in two months which made his selection a seemingly even more risky decision.
But the Kiwi Test No.7 revealed on his own podcast this week that he'd done more tackling practice in the lead-up to the match that he'd done all season.
Wearing an arm-guard, Hughes was in the thick of the action from the kick-off.
The 2024 Dally M Medallist then took centre stage with a brilliant individual try in the 15th minute.
Hughes ran on to a quick offload and then used his bandaged arm to fend off a would-be tackle by Cronulla lock Jesse Colquhoun.
He then scrambled through the remainder of the Sharks defence to dive over the line to the delight of his teammates.
Cronulla didn't target Hughes but also didn't treat him with kid gloves, with the Storm gun's face left bloodied during the second half after a desperate high tackle by Braydon Trindall.
But Hughes shrugged off the hit to help steer his team into consecutive grand finals, looking to atone for last year's loss to Penrith.
