Three years ago he was the starting whore of New South Wales, but now Nathan Peats can’t even make his way into the first class of fighting titans.
An injury to Mitch Rein would normally have resulted in the experienced types of peat being called back to first grade to fill the gap. Instead, Justin Holbrook has decided to give Erin Clark his seventh NRL game.
It used to be a fight between Rein and Peats for jersey number nine, now Peats seems to have dropped to fourth place in line with the young weapon that Tanah Boyd prefers as a utility from the bank.
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At the time of his Origin debut, Matty Johns rated the start of his Origin career as “incredible”.
“It is granite hard. The bigger the game, the harder it gets. What he did in defense was incredible. One of the great debuts, ”said Johns of the Triple M Grill Team.
“I think everyone in NSW – especially those around them – realize that Nathan Peats is an Origin hooker,” added Mark Geyer, co-host of Johns Radio.
“I think that’s (game I) when they realized that we have someone special here. He was brought into the cauldron as a debutant.
“He was great last night. He was everywhere – he is a very selfless player. “
Peat’s toughness cannot be questioned after retiring from a chest injury last year after knee and neck injuries at the end of the season in 2014 and 2015.
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Since his contract expires at the end of the year and he can hardly prove himself, his time on the Glitter Strip seems to be in the final phase.
However, Holbrook says Peats responded well to his ax.
“He’s fine. He played the scrimmage games and is a super fit guy, ”Holbrook told AAP.
“It is probably our strength. We have a lot of hookers at the moment … he is itching to go to Peatsey and when he gets called he will be ready, but at the moment I think Erin and Tanah are the best makeup on our site filling role pretty much good for us. “
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