DAMIAN Reti might have "been thrown in the deep end" but he looked far from a fish out of water as he starred for Pirates in their win last round win over Moree.
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After impressing off the bench in previous games, Reti's performance at outside centre earned him the three best and fairest points.
It also gave Pirates coach Mat Kelly some food for thought over last weekend’s bye as they prepare for their finals assault.
Reti only found out he was playing outside centre when they were handing out the jerseys, after being named to start on the wing.
"I had no idea. They threw me in the deep end," he said.
That said, it wasn't a completely foreign role for him.
Back in his junior days he played outside centre, before transitioning to more of a fullback/winger. That's where he played most of his footy with Manly (Marlins).
More recently he's been playing a bit of league.
"I've been playing league for the last couple of years in Sydney, with the Belrose Eagles," he said.
They play in the Sydney Shield competition.
He's also been playing a bit of sevens rugby, some weekends playing both - sevens on the Saturday and league on the Sunday.
Originally "a soccer boy" he played a bit of league at McCarthy.
Before joining Belrose he had been grappling with whether to stop playing footy altogether. But a few of his union mates, and brother Brock, were there.
"My brother is an assistant coach (A grade) at Belrose," he said.
"We had a few games in Sydney Shield together."
The decision to move back to Tamworth was really driven by partner Imogen getting a uni placement in Tamworth.
The Moree game was his first start, although he had in his two previous games played more minutes than he was expecting to.
"The boys have been joking that I've got a voodoo doll on the wingers," Reti said.
Both games the starting winger has been forced off with injury before the first 15 minutes.
Reti is taking it game by game, but is enjoying being back around the club.
"When I was coming up through the grades Ricko (Brendan Rixon) was in first grade," he said.
He's also played a bit of sevens with Andrew Moodie, and with the Collins boys - Andrew, Tim and Sam at the Marlins.
Narrabri's loss to Walcha last Saturday means that Pirates will be playing for the minor premiership when they tackle Walcha on Saturday.
"It needs fine-tuning, but it will come together," Reti said.
Kelly was of a similar view, and is excited about where their game can go.
"We've still got a lot of work to do. We're not playing to our potential yet," he said.
