Peats lays it on the line for Hunt

THE Titans have warned Ben Hunt to prepare for 80 minutes of non-stop traffic as they look to salvage a derby win from their disappointing season.

Hunt will step in at hooker on Saturday as the Broncos look for a two-month replacement for the injured Andrew McCullough.

But Titans rake Nathan Peats has warned Hunt that No.9 is a vastly different position from the halves and he faces a heavy workload against a Gold Coast side desperate to atone for their insipid fade from finals contention. NSW Origin hooker Peats said Tyrone Roberts’ difficulties in switching from the halves to hooker for the Titans showed just how different the positions were.

“Hooker’s tough,” Peats said. “You ask Tyrone (Roberts), he filled in at dummy-half and it’s a different ball game in the middle.

“Benny Hunt’s a pretty good defender and he’s a stocky little fella, so I think he’ll do quite fine.

“We’re not going to change our game plan, we usually try and work the middles over for every team or work the dummy-halves over.” Peats regularly makes 40 tackles a game for the Titans, while McCullough averages 45 tackles a game this year for the Broncos, so Hunt is going to have to more than double his regular defensive load in the halves.

Peats said McCullough’s injury was a huge blow for the Broncos.

“McCullough’s a massive loss for them and will be hard to replace,” he said.

“I think he’s a quality player and he’s worked really hard. We were born in the same year and he’s played over 200 games and it’s unbelievable … he’s like a young Cameron Smith at the moment.”

Peats is keen to make his mark on Saturday but not because World Cup selectors could be watching in the absence of McCullough, the man rated by many as Cameron Smith’s understudy.

“No chance,” Peats said when asked if he thought he could snare a Kangaroos jersey in McCullough’s absence.

“I’ve (asked) Haynesy (Jarryd Hayne) if he can maybe get me a start as the Fiji water boy or something to miss out on the start of the pre-season but that’s as close as I’ll be getting to the World Cup.”