By Liam Cook

Norths’ inside centre Jack Peoples believes the wheel will turn for his side ahead of a rescheduled round four clash with Easts at Bottomley Park this weekend.

The Eagles have endured a more than challenging 2022 season so far, thanks largely to injury.

“We just take each week as it comes and look at the things we are improving at and try to focus on that,” Peoples told Rugby News.

“The coaches are showing us we can do it and it’s just about now stringing that together.”

After eleven rounds of competition Norths remain winless, but Peoples said that isn’t dampening the club’s spirits.

“There’s not really much you can do. You’ve just got to accept some of the tough blows from injuries as they come,” he said.

“The boy’s get back into it come Tuesday and we just put our head down and try to work really hard individually on things that we need to work on.

“Hopefully we can get a couple wins toward the end of the season.”

Norths’ No.12 was a shining light in his side’s competitive outing against UQ last week.

Despite recording another loss, Peoples believes there was plenty to be gained from the performance for the young Eagles.

“There are a lot of positives to take out of that game for us. We didn’t get the chocolates which is frustrating for us as a group but we came together and touched on all the things we did positively.”

“There’s still a lot we need to improve on and there were some things highlighted by the coaches we could be doing a lot better. At the same time, we saw improvements in the areas we had been working really hard on.

“It was good the coaches highlighted to us ‘look, this is what we’ve been saying that we need to do, this is what you guys did and this is how we want to do it’.”

Peoples’ form, like that of his teammates, has been hampered by inconsistency and injury.

“I was a bit slow to get back into it and then I got an injury which set me out for a few weeks.”

“Coming back from the injury I was still a bit hit and miss but I feel last week was my best game for the season and hopefully I can keep building on that.”

The powerful back joined Norths this season after several successful years pursuing opportunities in rugby league.

“When I left high school I kept pursuing rugby league and played for Norths Devils in colts.”

“In 2019 I went to Easts Tigers rugby league and was fortunate enough to make my Queensland Cup debut.

“The end of that season I went to the Melbourne Storm. I did pre-season for six weeks and went through their infamous IDQ (I Don’t Quit) army camp. I ended up playing a trial against the Warriors before covid hit and I didn’t get to play footy for a year.”

Wanting to start anew and reignite the fun element of playing footy, Peoples’ returned to the code he hadn’t played since his time at Padua College.

“At the end of the year I just thought you know what I’m not having fun anymore so it’s time to go give rugby another crack and try have a bit of fun and jump out of the comfort zone again. That led me all the way back around Norths.”

He says the transition from league to union has been an enjoyable one.

“Having played before I knew a few things and I had a few skills that I had to brush up on again.”

“Competing at the ruck was something that I had to learn which a lot of the Norths’ boys helped me out with in terms of body height and those kinds of things.

“Now that I’m defending in the centres, which I didn’t play a lot of in high school, there’s a lot of space you’ve got to defend so learning how to read that has been another challenge I’ve had to adapt to. The boy’s at Norths have been fantastic in helping me around that.”

The league convert is full of praise for his new teammates.

“I’ve bonded really well with Conor Chittenden and Jordy Luke particularly.”

“All the boys have been really helpful coming back from league to union.

“Our number ten Harry Langbridge, who’s not typically a ten, has filled in really well and found some form in that role which has been really good to see.”

Peoples’ is adamant Norths’ lean patch won’t persist much longer in the second half of the season.

“Our group’s in a bit of a re-build phase obviously and our last couple years haven’t been as successful as some of the other clubs.”

“Towards the back of end of this season we are just trying to make sure this group of bloke’s improves together.

“We should be able to get into a good position come the end of the year to reset ourselves for next season.”