FORMER Warrington Wolves forward Trent Waterhouse has revealed that he turned down St Helens to sign for the Cheshire club.
Waterhouse, who is now 43 years of age, debuted for the Penrith Panthers in 2002 and went on to make 187 appearances for the Mountain Men before leaving the club at the end of 2011.
Job security and salary cap pressures brought the move to Warrington about, with the back-rower signing a three-year deal with the Wolves in Super League.
“Yeah, I think it definitely was (the right time),” Waterhouse said on Unfiltered podcast with Andy Raymond.
“We had a few tough years at Penrith, and I think Gus [Phil Gould] and Ivan [Cleary] were coming in the next year. The salary cap was a bit busted, so they said they could give us a one-year deal.
“I spoke to my manager and said is there any interest overseas? He said St Helens and Warrington were keen, and it was three-year deals. So I thought it was a good opportunity, it was something I always wanted to do. I loved playing over there on the tours and that, so if the right opportunity came up, I was just going to take it.
“Warrington was a strong club on the up, so I ended up signing with them for three years and had a great time.”
Waterhouse went on to register 59 appearances for the Cheshire club, though he did bemoan the weather at times.
“It was a breath of fresh air getting over there. They played a pretty expansive style of footy the Warrington boys, not as much wrestling, the game was a bit more free-flowing so I loved it,” Waterhouse continued.
“We played some big games too. We played at Wembley, we played at Old Trafford, so some great experiences. We won the Challenge Cup at Wembley and got rolled in a couple of grand finals. I reckon we should have won the first one.
“But I had a ball other than the weather early on in the year. We played in snow a couple of times.”
Click here to get the digital edition of League Express
Click here to subscribe to the print edition of League Express
League Express is also widely available from local newsagents across the north of England.
