Fifteen months out of the game when knee reconstruction was required after damaging all his ligaments and suffering a dislocation could have caused many to cry, 'enough!' But not Eklund.
He's set, if required, for the challenge the top-of-the-table clash and the excitement he feels is replicated throughout the Blues team, especially playing the game on Eden Park, where the two sides should have contested last season's final, only for Covid-19 to step in and result in the cancellation of the game.
"You always want to knock over the top dog, and they're the top dog at the moment so the boys have a little bit of extra edge this week and if we can keep building on what we have been doing over the last wee while then it should make for a decent game," he said.
Eklund hadn't committed himself solely to rugby, something that paid off when realising he was something of a late bloomer.
"I didn't chuck all my eggs in one basket and chase it as I started getting a little older.
"I moved down to the Bay [Bay of Plenty] to get a change of scene and I started to find my enjoyment for footy again and I think that is when things started falling into place for me."
He had been in a job four days a week, slogging his way through work and then going to training and playing some Mitre 10 Cup for three or four years.
"Things weren't progressing, and I got into a bit of a stalemate I suppose and I thought I might as well change scene and look out a different window and I loved being down in the Bay," he said.
"All my family are from down there so it was a pretty easy decision for me," he said.
It was also when he was in the final stages of his knee reconstruction.
"Clayton McMillan [the Bay of Plenty coach] chucked me a lifeline. He got me in there when I was hardly walking. He had a bit of faith in me that I would pull through. I was lucky that he did.
"I got down there and I haven't looked back. It's been good," he said.
While he played during the 2020 campaign, it was only a one-season contract, although he made full use of his chance to play 13 games while also doing well enough to be included as the third hooker in the North Island squad for the revived North v South game.
The Blues were unable to place him in their squad for 2021 but when James Parsons took medical advice and retired from the game, Eklund was approached to be placed on a full contract until 2023.
The Blues are an ideal fit, not only from his having grown up in the city but also at a time of significant development in the side's tight five.
"I grew up in Auckland, I went to school here. Dad's from here and we used to go to Eden Park when I was a kid so I saw them when they were at their best, and saw them at their lows so to be part of what is, hopefully, a change for the better is pretty cool," he said.
Having four All Blacks props around is a great bulwark and means he can concentrate on his requirements while trusting everyone else to do what is expected of them.
"I can just go out there and enjoy my footy, nail my core roles hopefully and make sure the coaches are happy so they keep chucking me in the team," he said.
At 29, he is late to the party compared to others who have enjoyed a more favoured path. But the obstacles along the way mean he is aware that it can be taken away at any time, so he is looking for enjoyment as things continue to fall his way.
The knee can still give him a reminder of his tough times, but ice has proved an ally but it hasn't hindered his squats or his ability to push in scrums, and it hasn't detracted from his try-scoring ability, especially on the back of driving lineout mauls.