Nathan Peats is determined to keep his place as starting hooker for South Sydney, despite the return of Issac Luke from suspension.
Peats produced an excellent display in Souths’ gut-wrenching NRL defeat by Sydney Roosters on Monday, pulling off 40 tackles and looking a threat in attack.
However, the 21-year-old, in only his second full season in first grade, admits he’s unsure how long he will stay in the side now that New Zealand star Luke is available.
Peats has been named as starter for the Rabbitohs’ clash with Melbourne on Sunday, and is desperate to stay there following his first full 80-minute match.
“I’m pretty happy with making all those tackles and think I played alright,” Peats told AAP on Tuesday.
“If I can stay in the side, I’ll be a very happy man but, as long as I am in the 17, that is the most important thing.
“I am also able to play lock and happy to be there too so I think that increases my options.”
Peats admits the Souths players were crestfallen following the last-gasp defeat to their bitter rivals, who sealed the win with an Anthony Minichiello try 20 seconds from time.
“It was a crap way to lose. We were the better side for three-quarters of the game,” he said.
“But we just switched off in the last three minutes and paid the price.
“Their last try for them was pretty skilful and hard to stop, but we are professional athletes and have to learn how to play the full 80 minutes and learn from it.
“That should have been our two points last night.”
Souths co-captain Matt King says despite the defeat, there were more positives than negatives from the game.
“It was a pretty tough pill to swallow to see the Roosters players celebrating in the manner that they did,” King said.
“But we can take a lot from the manner in which we played for most of it.”
“What we have to take from this game is that we’ll learn from it and won’t let it happen like that again.
“It’s round one so it’s not panic stations yet but, if we don’t learn from the mistakes of last night, then it will be a disaster.”
