True value of a No.9
Titans’ issues without Peats highlights Brisbane’s big loss
GOLD Coast skipper Ryan James knows first-hand how much of a disruption losing your star No.9 can be.
It’s a situation which has befallen the Titans’ Round 22 opponents, derby foes Brisbane, after some Adam Blair friendly fire resulted in a season-ending knee injury for instrumental hooker Andrew McCullough.
The Broncos have scrambled to replace their 214gamer, moving State of Origin representative Ben Hunt from halfback to hooker and recalling Kodi Nikorima to the starting side for the derby showdown on Saturday night.
Hunt will go head-to-head with Gold Coast ace Nathan Peats, whose impact is perhaps best measured by the extent to which the Titans have missed him when he has been absent.
Since joining the club midway through last year, the Titans have won 13 of 25 matches (52 per cent) with Peats in the side.
Without him, through either injury or Origin duties, their record plummets to 11 per cent with only one victory from nine starts.
Peats’ expertise around the ruck has also made a noticeable difference on his captain’s ability to find the try line.
James has failed to register a single try in those nine games Peats has missed; in the 25 they have lined up together, James has bagged 12 tries including two doubles.
The front-rower joked it’s a correlation his teammate had quickly pointed out.
“I’m just not getting over as much (this year) and Peatsy was injured and he said it was him,” James said.
“Then when he came back he gave me three try assists. He reckons it’s all him.”
Queensland coach Kevin Walters labelled McCullough’s injury a “big blow” for the Broncos but he believes the situation could have been worse.
“If this happened in the finals, you would have to say their season would probably be over but I think that they have got enough time up their sleeve the next few weeks to find a capable replacement,” he said.
The Titans are desperate to rebound from their shocker against Wests Tigers with a win over the Broncos in FOX LEAGUE’S Retro Round, celebrating the 1980s.
For a limited time, fans can score $20 general admission tickets for the Cbus Super Stadium match by visiting nrl.com/tickets and entering the code word ‘retro’.