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Titans hooker Nathan Peats.

Titans coach Garth Brennan will rely on the versatility of his squad and Nathan Peats' renowned work ethic rather than looking for a stop-gap solution on the open market.

The former NSW Origin hooker went under the knife on Tuesday after tearing his pectoral muscle in the gym last Thursday.

Such surgery ordinarily requires three months' recovery time but Brennan is confident Peats could be back playing inside 10 weeks.

The injury to Peats leaves Mitch Rein as the only recognised dummy-half in the Titans squad.

Despite the fact he has still has two spare spots on his roster, Brennan said that he will use the likes of AJ Brimson, Ryley Jacks and Tyrone Roberts at No.9 rather than bring a new player into the club.

"We've got some players within our roster at the moment that can cover that if a situation was to arise so I don't think there's really a need to replace him at this stage for a 'what if' for nine weeks," Brennan told NRL.com.

Titans utility Ryley Jacks.
Titans utility Ryley Jacks. ©Jason O'Brien/NRL Photos

"You've always in the back of your mind got to have something up your sleeve in case there's an injury or Mitch does need a break.

"He got through 80 the other night first time up so he's only going to get better for it.

"The more times he does play 80 minutes the better he's going to be and most of the top NRL hookers these days tend to play 80 minutes.

I'm confident that Nathan will get back inside the 10 weeks

Garth Brennan on Nathan Peats

"You look at the likes of Smith, Cook, Friend, McInnes, not many of them come off.

"That's just the way the game has gone these days, you can't have two genuine hookers in your team and hence the reason why I went this way this season so far."

The barometer for how all other Titans players are tracking during pre-season, Brennan has no doubt that Peats’ competitiveness and dedication will make him available for selection as soon as possible.

"I'm confident that Nathan will get back inside the 10 weeks," Brennan added.

"A few guys in the past got back in nine weeks and 'Peatsy' is super fit and looks after himself.

"If we can get him back inside 10 weeks it will be a boost to us moving forward."

Gold Coast player AJ Brimson.
Gold Coast player AJ Brimson. ©Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

The injury to Peats opens the door for Rein to make the Titans No.9 jersey his own although he admitted that he was disappointed to earn a starting spot in such a fashion.

"You never want to see someone get injured. You always want to get into the team differently but that’s just footy," Rein said as the team prepares for Friday night's clash with the Warriors in Auckland.

"No one really knew if it was serious at the time but it turned out that it was.

"I had my head around playing off the bench so I was pretty excited about that but unfortunately he got injured and 'Brenno' said he might have to try and get 80 out of me.

"I did have a bit of a disrupted pre-season but I felt like I was ready to go round one anyway and I've had a couple of games under my belt in reserve grade so feeling up to it now."

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