Titans teammates and coaching staff hailed Jai Arrow's performance to play 80 minutes in Saturday's 33-26 win over the Knights as "inspirational" as he shook off rib and shoulder injuries to play the whole match.
After missing last weekend's loss to Melbourne with a painful rib injury suffered against the Raiders, twice Titans 'orange shirt' Craig Catterick was convinced, after attending to Arrow in back play, he needed a break and signalled to the touchline.
Both times Arrow shrugged him off and jogged away.
Catterick asked him if he needed a break and was told where to go.
"He [Arrow] was an absolute inspiration to all of us," halfback Ash Taylor said.
"We all knew what sort of injuries he has been taking into games, but he is just such a tough bugger.
"To have him in our team putting his body on the line like that means so much to us, and make you want to give back to him and feed off his energy.
"He has worked so hard to get where he is and he doesn't want to stop and let the team down."
Match Highlights: Titans v Knights - Round 11, 2018
James said he was aware Arrow was down for the count a few times in both halves, as he winced in pain and held his arm to his body.
Yet it did not surprise him Arrow refused to surrender.
"He is just a tough bloke," James said. "We needed him to put his body on the line to get the win this week.
"Two or three times you could see he was really struggling and you were just hoping he could continue on. "It didn't surprise me that he did, it's just the character he is."
James said Arrow is not a player that he has to worry that he may be too defiant and is staying on not capable of doing his job because of injury, or is illogically too stubborn.
"You know he won't let you down even though you also know he's far from right. He's a pretty honest judge of what he is capable of and obviously has an incredible pain threshold."
