Parramatta youngster Reed Mahoney has been backed to become the NRL's next No.9 ironman after Kaysa Pritchard's decision to take leave from the game.
The Eels already-thin dummy-half stocks took a battering on Wednesday when the club granted the luckless 24-year-old time away to consider his playing future.
After an injury-ravaged run, which has seen him manage just 47 first-grade appearances in six seasons, Pritchard's career is at a crossroads.
He was last year restricted to just eight games because of shoulder and groin problems.
When he returned to pre-season training, he continued to be plagued by the injuries which cut short his 2018 campaign.
"It's sad to see, he's had a lot of injuries," Eels skipper Clint Gutherson said at the Fox League launch.
"It's the sport that we play. He's still a young fella and he needed some time away from the game to get his head right."
It leaves Mahoney, 20, as the only recognised hooker on the Eels' roster.
The club has expressed interest in luring Issac Luke away from the Warriors, where he is on a bargain-basement contract.
For the time being the club is putting plenty of stock in the highly-rated Mahoney, who impressed many with his toughness and attitude during his nine first-grade games last year.
Asked if Mahoney will become an 80-minute hooker, Gutherson said: "I think that's what he's going for this pre-season.
"It takes everyone four or five games to get into the swing of 80-minute football, even us backs ... He's put on a couple of kilos, he's one of the fittest at training."
In just his second game in the top flight last year, he came face-to-face with South Sydney enforcer Sam Burgess.
As Mahoney recounted at the time: "After the game Sammy Burgess came up to me and said, 'You're a cheeky little prick' on the field.
"I said, 'You've got to do what you've got to do, mate'. He said, 'Good stuff'."
Gutherson said the incident was an example of Mahoney's plucky attitude.
"It just shows he doesnt really care who it is. He's got that respect for the older players. But he doesn't back down and that's what you want."
