Hoeata (28) will start his fifth game of the season for the Highlanders this weekend, finding his feet after a nasty pectoral injury wiped him out from pre-season matches and the first month of the season.
Hoeata said it had taken a while to get his body going in the right direction but things were now happening.
"Slowly the confidence is building and I'm starting to get back to where I want to be. It is hard to know when you are there but you want to play a few games," Hoeata said.
"Mentally, I'm feeling really good. The last game against the Cheetahs I was throwing my body around a bit more and not worried about my shoulder.
"It has been really good. I haven't felt it at all. But I did a lot of work on it. Had four months off and thanks also to the medical staff and a good rehab things seem to be going good."
The lock remained on the field for 80 minutes last week as the Highlanders came back from the dead to beat the Cheetahs.
He said the ability of the team to "hang in there" eventually led to the win.
"Things were not going our way but all of the side, the whole 22, had the belief that we could still win the game. We managed to string a few phases together and that got us right back into the game.
"It helps having some real strikepower out the back. You know you can give it to the backs and the likes of Hosea Gear, Tamati [Ellison] and Mike [Delany] can create something. That gives a real help to the guys up front."
Hoeata said the Sharks, the Highlanders' opponents in Durban tomorrow morning, played a traditional power game.
"They have a New Zealand coach [John Plumtree] and he has brought a really rugged forward pack into the game. They play a really big power game. We are going to have to man up and stop them."
Hoeata made his debut for the All Blacks last year and is keen to have another taste. But that was a long way in front of him.
"Of course I would like to get back in there but I'm just concentrating on getting over my injury. I'm just wanting to make the starting team, helping and contributing as much as I can."
Hoeata will have a major role to play against the Sharks as the Durban-based side looks to gets its season going in the right direction.
The Sharks lie in seventh position, and need to start winning some games to remain in the playoff hunt.
The Highlanders are fifth, and a win over the Sharks, combined with other results going their way, could help put a gap on those chasing the top six.
But the Highlanders' record is not great against the Sharks. They have been beaten in the past five games between the two teams, and only three times have the Highlanders won all their matches in a year in South Africa.
Doug Tietjens has come into the starting side at openside flanker for the suspended James Haskell, while Siale Piutau gets his first start of the season, coming on to the right wing in place of Buxton Popoali'i.
Loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira has come back into the Sharks team and will play his first game of the season after getting over an ankle injury.
No 8 Ryan Kankowski is also back in the Sharks side after injury, but will come off the bench.
JP Pietersen returns to his favoured right wing with Paul Jordaan coming in at centre.