For someone who isn't a noted five-eighth, Sam Collins makes a pretty good one.
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The backrower-come-five-eighth has slotted back in like the missing piece of a puzzle and was one of the architects as Pirates saw off Narrabri's challenge 48-22 at Ken Chillingworth Oval on Saturday to claim back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
After earning the one point for his 25 minute cameo off the bench in their last game, Collins steered the ship superbly as Pirates coach Mat Kelly put it.
"It's amazing that he's hardly ever played 10," Kelly remarked.
It's only really been when they've needed someone to plug a hole that he's been thrown in there, and it is a measure of the footballer that he is that he looks like a seasoned campaigner at 10.
He had a hand in several of Pirates' tries, delivering the final pass for at least two of them, and, with the forwards setting a good platform, directed them around the field well.
There was a real surety about Pirates attack, which Kelly attributed a lot to Collins.
"He played really well today, which then in turn let the likes of (Mitchell) Dening and Llewyn (Rapana) feed off the outside and Wes to finish off," Kelly said.
He said he is also a big part of what goes on defensive wise in the midfield.
After being critical of some of their defence against Scone, Kelly highlighted their attitude in defence as one of the most pleasing aspects of what he rated their best performance of the season.
"They really decided to turn up and stick some of their tackles and worked hard for the 80 minutes against some quality opposition there," he said.
Skipper Conrad Starr also spoke about their physicality at the breakdown.
"We've been working really hard on trying to pick that breakdown up a bit and I think the boys took a big step towards getting that right," he said.
The scrum was also back in business. They really had the screws on Narrabri there.
"That was pleasing to see," Kelly said.
"So much stems from that for us as a team and we pride ourselves on that."
In an at times heated contest, which resulted in both sides' hookers - Bart Leach (Pirates) and Beau Brummell (Narrabri) spending 10 minutes in the bin in the second half to cool off, the Blue Boars, in deference to previous weeks, came out firing. They earned a penalty virtually straight from the kick-off, which Michael Cain converted for a 3-nil lead.
A few minutes later Jacob Nichols finished off some spectacular play to extend their advantage. After committing the Pirates defence to close him down, Blue Boars winger James Albert brilliantly kick back into the space in the middle of the field for the chasing Nichols.
But Pirates' hit back immediately, and with interest, running in three unanswered tries in the space of 15 minutes to claim the ascendancy.
And as the Blue Boars struggled with their discipline, Pirates firmed their stranglehold on the contest, winger Wes Rooney crossing for his second with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half to kick them out to a 26-10 lead.
The Blue Boars finally got a bit of sustained possession late in the half and Albert showed good balance and strength to stay in the field of play and make it a nine-point game at half-time.
But any momentum from that was lost when they fumbled the kick-off, handing the ball straight back to Pirates. After Rooney leapt high to spectacularly take a cross-field kick from Collins and put the Narrabri defence on the back foot, Collins hit Starr with a great short ball and the home side were again on their way.
Blue Boars coach Dylan Duncan said they didn't turn up with their 'A game" and were guilty of playing the man instead of the game.
"We got sucked into the niggle game and it went downhill from there," he said.
"We did exactly what we wanted to at the start of the game, play as quickly as we could, get over the advantage line and hang onto the ball but then we just got a flow of penalties against us and we couldn't get out of the rut we were in."
Only nine down at half-time they were still right in it (they had come back from more already this season) but then they dropped the ball from the kick-off and couldn't get themselves back into the game.
Able to really dominate possession in recent weeks, Duncan spoke about one of the challenges for them on Saturday being able to make the most of what possession they had.
"Things don't always go your way when you play good teams and you've got to be able to go with that ebb and flow of the possession, and we didn't do that," he said.
He thought Jack Maunder had a massive game for them.
"I can't even think how many runs he had and tackles he made," Duncan said.
