BALANCE, as applied to sporting heroes, is not always a positive attribute.
The annals of football, for example, are filled with tales of some of the most finely balanced individuals ever to have graced a soccer pitch but being famous for having a chip on each shoulder is hardly a proud boast.
However, it is balance of an altogether different kind that has made Iestyn Harris a celebrated figure in the worlds of rugby league and rugby union, that and a refreshingly unassuming and selfless manner for a player who has become the perfect role model for youngsters from Tiger Bay to Todmorden.
The poise, grace and elegance Harris brings to the rugby field is matched by an affable and immensely likeable persona off it, qualities which even his biggest critics cannot deny.
In six days' time, the 28-year-old will come face to face with his most vocal detractors when he plays at stand-off for Bradford Bulls against his old club, Leeds Rhinos, in a match which marks the end of a remarkable journey.
The man who led Leeds to their only trophy of the Super League era, a Challenge Cup victory over London in 1999 in the last final staged at Wembley, can expect a hostile reception from the fans who once worshipped him when he returns to Headingley.
For the heinous crime of rejecting the chance to rejoin Leeds, Harris will no doubt face a chorus of boos each time he gets near, let alone touches the ball, but the catcalls will not quite disguise the grudging respect and indeed fear they have of a player who has it in him to deny them their ambitions.
Leeds sit proudly at the top of the Super League table and are seemingly on course for their first title in over three decades, a wait Harris and his new club are very capable of extending before the final hooter sounds at Old Trafford on October 16.
Just three years have elapsed since Harris turned his back on Leeds to take on the biggest challenge of his professional career, a high-profile cross-code move to Cardiff and Wales which reportedly set back the Principality's governing body in the region of £2m.
Such was the weight of expectation that followed him to Wales, where a player who had never played union as an adult was seen as the savour of the national game, that it was hardly surprising that the jury is out on whether the move was a success.
Harris could never live up to that unrealistic expectation but during his time in the valleys he did enough to impress Welsh legends such as Barry John, Phil Bennett, David Watkins and Jonathan Davies, all of whom were gushing in their praise for the Oldham-born star.
All four urged the WRU to ease him in gently, all four asked the Welsh public to be patient but all four were largely ignored and Harris was dropped in at the deep end within weeks of starting a new career in an alien code.
After just two-and-a-half games with Cardiff, Harris was named at fly-half by Wales for a match against Argentina and, inevitably, he looked hopelessly out of his depth. That led to Wales switching him to centre where, over time, he looked the immensely talented, world-class athlete that he is.
Yet for all the accolades, all the snowballing acknowledgement of his ability, all the profile and all the international opportunities afforded by rugby union, Harris was always a rugby league player giving the other code a decent crack.
The ongoing struggles of rugby union in Wales made Harris a soft target for some within the game, especially at a time when the WRU were strapped for cash and clubs were being allowed to go to the wall, and a player who has always valued his privacy soon realised his future lay in league.
"For family reasons, we felt we should go back," said Harris shortly after his return. "My three-year-old daughter misses her grandparents, my wife, Becky, was missing her family and friends and I was missing them, too. I felt quite a long way away.
"We'd done the three years, enjoyed it, made some good friends in union but league was still a big pull for me. People think I moved to Wales for the money and they probably think I'm doing the same now but that's categorically not the case.
"I could have earned the same in league as I did in union and there's no financial gain in coming back. Contrary to what people think, it's not what drives me. It's the game of rugby that drives rugby players."
Bradford, who had lost out to Warrington in the race to sign Harris as a schoolboy, were determined to get their man this time and after tracking his progress closely over the last three years, moved quickly to reclaim him for league by agreeing a four-and-a-half-year contract.
His re-integration into league has been less complicated that the switch to union but the move has been far from smooth and Harris still has a long way to go before he makes a full contribution to Bradford's defence of the Super League title.
The accuracy and efficacy of some of his passing leaves much to be desired and he has still to make the mental connection with the giants in Bradford's pack who have yet to develop the understanding that will enable the Bulls to rediscover their old level of dominance.
However, that is not to say that Harris has in any way proved a disappointment since switching back, far from it. As he showed in scoring his first two tries for his new club in Friday's victory over Wigan, Harris still has an uncanny ability to read a game and a finely-honed sense of anticipation which creates the space and time he thrives in.
Harris could not carry Wales and his memory of the personal toll his captaincy of Leeds took on him during his four years at Headingley was probably a factor in his decision to join the Bulls, where he is surrounded by game-breakers and players who have the experience and the ability to lift the team on the occasions he cannot.
That was not the case at Leeds when he left in 2001 and though the Rhinos are a far more rounded team than they were then, it is difficult to fault his judgment: neither Harris nor his old club had much to gain by his return.
The wags in the South Stand may not agree, well not openly at least, but since when did the supporters of any club take a balanced view?