State of Origin candidate he may not be, but Parramatta players say new teammate Isaac De Gois has all the attributes to fill Nathan Peats's giant boots.
Peats was arguably the best acquisition of the summer, with his first crack at a starting role helping drive Parramatta up the ladder in 2014. He was also understood to be in NSW coach Laurie Daley's plans in case incumbent rake Robbie Farah succumbed to an elbow injury prior to Origin I.
But an ACL injury in a loss against Penrith a fortnight ago ended his season, and forced the club to steal veteran hooker Isaac De Gois from the Shire on Monday.
"Goisy turned up on Monday and he's a bit of a quiet bloke, bit of a quiet fella. A lot different to Peatsy. Peatsy's a bit of an angry bloke," said second-rower Kenny Edwards.
"I haven't really gotten to know Goisy yet, but he looks like a bit of an angry bloke too. Hopefully he'd be good for us. Obviously Kell [Luke Kelly] played there on the weekend, I thought he went well.
"But we were lacking in our depth at hooker and it's awesome to have Goisy on board. He can't wait to play with us this weekend and we're the same."
Edwards, who re-signed with the club last week until the end of 2017, said De Gois's arrival won't change the style of play that has pushed the Eels into the top eight heading into their clash against the Bulldogs on Sunday.
In nine games sharing the dummy-half role with John Morris at Cronulla this year, De Gois has averaged 20 tackles.
"We don't change one thing. Obviously Goisy's been around for a while, he's pretty experienced. So I think he'd be right, he'd fit in well with the shape that we play. We haven't changed one thing. We're really looking forward to Goisy adding to what we've got."
Parramatta will this week be without the services of Jarryd Hayne and Will Hopoate who are away on Origin duty, but could gain centre Willie Tonga, who is on standby for Queensland centre Greg Inglis for Origin II next Wednesday.
Maroons coach Mal Meninga is understood to be making a final decision on Inglis's health within the next 48 hours, enabling Tonga to return to club duty.
Should he be called into the side, centre Ryan Morgan will make just his second appearance of the year.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Been back in reggies for a while now and had a game a couple of weeks ago but definitely looking to cement my spot," Morgan said.
"[Waiting for a chance] gets frustrating, obviously. But the team's going well and it's good to see the boys are enjoying themselves and Willie and Hopps are in good form."
