The return of Terrence Romeo offered some form of optimism to the miseries of Terrafirma’s winless campaign so far especially with the chance to field the once dreaded Romeo-Pringle combo.

The combination of Romeo and Stanley Pringle, two of the best isolation players during their primes, once took the league by storm when they were still playing with NorthPort six years ago.

And while they went separate ways when Pringle was traded to Ginebra and Romeo bounced from TNT to San Miguel, fate worked its magic as the two found themselves wearing the same uniforms and sharing the court anew on Friday, Jan. 10.

“Sobrang saya ng pakiramdam. Kasi dati, GlobalPort days namin, marami kaming memories. marami kaming mga ipinanalong games, maraming kaming mga highlights na ginawa,” said Romeo who made his Dyip debut in the 84-89 loss to Magnolia after getting traded by the Beermen during the offseason as part of the Juami Tiongson deal.

While the explosiveness of the two may have taken a step back as compared to their younger versions, Romeo, who believes they are wiser and more poised this time as they look to take the veteran roles to the young Dyip team.

Romeo and Pringle, for one, boast a combined seven championships under their belts.

“Ngayon, kami na ‘yung veterans sa liga. so nakakatuwa. Ready na kami na makatulong sa mga rookies at bata naming teammates,” he added.

Romeo, however, seemed to be still feeling his way with the new team and after a long injury layoff as he only finished with three points while backcourt partner Pringle showed the way for the locals with 22 points.

But the 32-year-old was in no rush.

“Kailangan pa makuha yung rhythm. Maganda yung nilalaro ni Stanley [Pringle], tapos ako, medyo kinukuha ko pa yung timing ko. Hindi pa talaga tuloy-tuloy pa rin yung minutes ko, pero reads pa rin ni Coach Raymond yun. Nakikita naman niya yung game, at alam niyang wala pa yung timing ko,” said Romeo.

The veteran guard said he’s relatively healthy now and just needs to get his feet wet before hopefully being of help to a Dyip side still searching for the elusive first win after nine games.

“Healthy na ako, yung timing na lang sa game. Sinasabi ko nga sa teammates and coaches ko na bigyan lang ako ng konti pang games kasi ayoko lang biglain,” explained Romeo.

“Gusto ko muna ma-feel yung game, yung court, tapos hindi ko pa alam gaano yung mga plays. Pero yung percent ng kondisyon ko, nasa 80 to 90% na ako. Hopefully, next game pataas na nang pataas,” he added.