Soon-to-be Dragons centurion Matt Prior. Pictures: ADAM McLEAN
Matt Prior at training with Dragons teammates at WIN Stadium yesterday.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Phil Ostwald calls it the Coffee Club, unmistakable with their lattes out the front of Cucina's on Thirroul's main street.
Among them is soon-to-be Dragons centurion Matt Prior, no self-inflated sense of importance as he kicks back with his mates.
Merely another face in the crowd - just as he intends to be when those same mates are running themselves ragged for the Thirroul Butchers, Prior's junior club.
"Some of his best mates are still playing with the club," said premiership-winning Butchers coach Ostwald. "He stays close by. He's an unassuming character and just goes about his business. I think he's done a tremendous job to get where he has."
If anyone should know, it is Ostwald. He coached Prior when he first dabbled in football at under 6's.
And then watched a "strong and real awkward character" fill into the imposing frame he bears to this day.
"He was one of those kids that would come along and you never knew if he was interested or he wasn't, but he'd turn up," Ostwald recalled. "Sometimes he would be there and sometimes he wouldn't.
"It took him a while to get hold of the fact that he could play. He was great to coach, very quiet and never played up. He just turned up and away he went."
It hasn't always been that easy for Prior, far from an automatic selection in the junior representative sides, the selection of which hopes and dreams are often pinned on.
But Prior kept plugging away, trying his hand at a number of positions. Even coaxing Ostwald into giving him a go at five-eighth one day.
"We gave him that opportunity, but realised he was probably a bit better closer in because of his size and strength," Ostwald joked. "But he had some ball skills, too."
Eventually Mr Fix-It found his way into the Dragons ranks, earning a spot in Nathan Brown's squad for an early-season fixture in 2008 against the Cowboys.
"I do remember my first game, it was against North Queensland down here so it was good to play at WIN in front of all my family and friends so it was great," Prior recalled.
He wasn't seen in the top grade again until almost three months later.
The now 25-year-old has been a constant since, whether it be any position in the forwards to the occasional stop-gap centre.
His liking for a minimum of fuss and fanfare makes the premiership-winner's 100th appearance in the Red V an occasion he would probably prefer would pass quickly by.
"I never thought I'd play one let alone the amount of games [I have played] so it's good to get the 100," Prior said.
"I'm very excited about it, obviously.
"It has come around very fast. It's probably my fifth year playing and it's just gone around ridiculously quick. I'll just keep taking it one game at a time like I have been doing. That's been working well for me so I'll stick to that.
"I'll definitely trade it in if we could get the win [against Canberra on Sunday]."
And then it's back to where Prior is most at home - kicking back with his mates.