Hurt Nate does the hard yards

THE ice pack strapped to the centre of Nate Myles’ chest tells the story of his injury more than the hardened Gold Coast forward will ever let on.

While few NRL players would take the field injury-free at this stage of the season, none is battling the type of pain that Myles h a s c a r r i e d s i n c e Queensland’s Origin victory on July 4.

He played most o f t he decider with the sternum injury and then for days after could barely breathe or laugh without feeling severe chest pain.

Club officials were astounded at how quickly Myles returned to club football, determined not to let the injury keep him off the field even though every contact was like taking a sledgehammer to a bruise.

When you’re making 40-odd tackles and 15 hit-ups per game, it’s an 80-minute torture test.

‘‘I’m fine, that’s getting better so I’m not really thinking about that,’’ Myles said. ‘‘A little bit sore today, no worse than usual.’’

But his teammates have seen the pain. It’s why they’re so inspired when they still see him taking the tough runs and working hard, when most others would probably be in the stands until the injury has healed completely.

‘‘His sternum is not the best, he’s been battling that a little while now,’’ Mark Minichiello said. ‘‘ He doesn’t do much contact during the week, but come game day he is always the first in there getting down and dirty and doing all the little things that really help our team.’’

The Titans fly to Melbourne today for Friday’s clash with the Storm. After dropping out of the top eight last week, the Titans know their finals campaign may be taken out of their hands with one more loss.

‘‘If we’re not going to go and compete with the likes of Souths and Melbourne we don’t deserve to be there,’’ Myles said.

– The Courier-Mail