Thomas Mikaele says he has no issue with rolling up his sleeves and getting to work with a struggling Warrington Wolves team.
Mikaele arrived in the UK earlier this month after signing a two-and-a-half-year deal to join the Wolves from Wests Tigers.
The 24-year-old prop forward made his debut before the international break in Warrington’s late defeat at Wakefield Trinity, a result which extended their losing run to five matches and upped the pressure on head coach Daryl Powell.
But Mikaele is not daunted by entering a camp currently in a difficult spot, having often been part of a team in a similar place in the NRL to where Warrington currently find themselves in Super League.
“My time at Wests Tigers wasn’t great from the ladder side of things, in terms of success,” he told Rugby League World magazine.
“I’d been at a club where we’d been down at the bottom the last couple of years. Since I’ve been there, they’ve only been down there. In the last ten years they haven’t reached the play-offs.
“So where (Warrington) are is nothing new to me. But as I’m coming in and seeing the calibre of players that we’ve got, and looking at the table, (I think) we’re not that far off.”
However, he is not looking at himself as a potential saviour of the Wolves’ season and says the best thing he can do is focus on his own game and delivering for the team.
“It’s really simple; I’m coming over to play my game and do my job,” said Mikaele.
“It’s cliche but that’s all footy is at the end of the day. As an outsider, I just want to add what I can do around the ruck and what I can do in defence.”
Meanwhile, Warrington last week released forward Billy Magoulias from his contract, to return to Australia on “compassionate grounds”.
Magoulias joined the club ahead of this season and made only eight appearances.
Explaining his departure, head coach Daryl Powell told the Warrington Guardian: “His partner’s expecting a baby and she’d gone home.
“We had also decided that we weren’t going to keep him on for next year, so it all came to a head around that really.”
*Read the full Thomas Mikaele feature in the next edition of Rugby League World, out this Friday and available at www.totalrl.com/shop
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