NICK TAYLOR, The West Australian
January 27, 2011, 7:56 am


Pek Cowan will be looking after No.1 this year - the Western Force loosehead prop's jumper.

For the first three rounds of last year's Super 14 and in 60 minutes with the Wallabies on their 2009 northern hemisphere tour, the specialist loosehead packed down in the middle of the front row.

It was an experiment started by Wallabies coach Robbie Deans and continued by then Force coach John Mitchell when his hooking stocks were depleted.

Only the inexperienced Ben Whittaker and Ryan Tyrrell were available and Nathan Charles did not join the club until mid-year.

But after three games normal business was resumed and Cowan moved back to the loosehead side in five starts and came off the bench twice.

He made his fourth Test appearance off the bench in the 49-3 win against Fiji last year and started for the Australian Barbarians against England, but missed out on the Tri- Nations tournament and the European tour.

Now he's keen to put that behind him.

"Loosehead always was my main focus but I was asked to cover hooker and I was happy to try and do it for the team. Unfortunately it probably wasn't the best timing for me," he said.

"It was tough. Another notch in the belt doesn't necessarily hurt but I wasn't totally comfortable in the position and it affected my play.

"I was still playing the same way I did as a prop and would not necessarily be in the right position for the hooker in open play. Throwing in at line-outs … I'm glad to put that behind me. It wasn't much fun."

Cowan was more than pleased when Whittaker and Charles took their crash course in Super rugby.

"At least they were flying with wings and a propeller turning. I barely had the propeller turning," he said.

Cowan, 24, has shed three kilos to bring his playing weight down to 113kg and has been impressed with the recruitment of forwards coach, former Wallaby and Queensland Reds prop Nick Stiles.

"He has helped me 10-fold getting rid of bad habits. It's still a work in progress but we're getting there," he said.
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