Workington Town coach Chris Thorman has said two of his prop forwards, both at different ends of the scale in terms of experience, have brought the very best out in each other.
New signing Ryan Wilson, who joined the club last week from amateur club Ellenborough Rangers, has spent time working with former New Zealand international Fuifui Moimoi (pictured) to get up to speed with what is required from a frontrower at this level.
“We need a bit more strength in depth in the middle forwards, and Ryan gives us a few more options there,” said Thorman.
“I have really liked his attitude since day one. He gets frustrated when he gets things wrong, and he will get things wrong considering where he’s come from. That’s no disrespect to his community club, but he’s working hard to get up to speed with where he needs to be.
“One of the players he’s been working closely with is Fui and he’s a great player for him to learn from.
“It’s also a different challenge for Fui, because he’s not often been asked to do this sort of thing. I’ve worked with a lot of players and they can often be a bit selfish, They often don’t realise how much they have to give back to the game, especially to players that are just starting out on their careers.
“Fui has a really nice manner about him and he’s well respected. It’s not much for him to do, but he spends a few minutes after training with to help him get used to this level.”
Wilson went straight into the 21-man squad to face Keighley on Sunday. Also included was Calvin Wellington, who has not played since an accident away from the game in the off-season.
“Calvin fell off some scaffolding a few months ago and he lacerated a kidney,” explained Thorman.
“He had some internal bleeding, so it was pretty serious and we’ve just had to take it a week at a time with him. He’s been keen to get back involved in training and get back to 100 per cent straight away. But we had to ease him back into it and now he’s ready to go.
“He’d been doing what he needs to do at training, but we just had to wait for the all-clear from his doctor, which we got before the weekend.”
