Widnes Vikings star Joe Mellor has admitted he had not held talks with any other clubs before signing his new deal.
The halfback signed a new three-year deal with the Vikings last week that will take him to the end of the 2018 season.
There had been rumblings of interest elsewhere after his superb early season form, but the 25-year-old revealed there was no foundation to the rumours.
“I heard people going on about it,” he said.
“Friends had told me about clubs, but there was nothing official or anything like that.
“I’d been negotiating for about a month, but I’m happy that it is all done now and I can concentrate on the rest of the season and beyond.
“I’m really happy at Widnes. I’ve been trying to get better each year, and this year the team has improved a lot and I’ve helped that.”
Mellor, along with uncompromising prop Eamon O’Carroll, who also signed a new deal last week, has been a part of the great developments being made at the club recently.
Although the Vikings have moved into the upper echelons of Super League, the former Wigan star believes further improvement on last year is still the major goal.
“I think we just want to do what we’ve been saying for the last five years, and that’s to get better and progress each year, and that’s what we’ve got to look forward to. We can’t look too far, it’s just about progression.”
Improvement on last year would mean a place in the Super 8s, and even despite their blistering start, Mellor insists the objective is still to ensure they don’t drop into the Qualifiers for a second year.
“We aren’t going to look too far ahead and take each game as it comes. Nobody wants to be in the Middle 8s at the end of the year and we’ve definitely got the potential to make the top eight and that is what we want to do.
“We don’t even speak about it (making the Super 8s). Everyone in their mind knows if we carry on as we’ve started we’ll be ok.”