Brad Singleton believes the young Wigan Warriors pack will be much better for a year’s experience and he is confident new props Patrick Mago and Kaide Ellis will make a successful transition to Super League.
Singleton, 29, is now one of the most senior players in the Wigan side and especially in their forward ranks, where a lot of young players were given big responsibility last season, including Olly Partington, Liam Byrne, Ethan Havard, Joe Shorrocks and Morgan Smithies.
It proved a baptism of fire at times in what was a disappointing season overall for the Warriors, but former Leeds Rhinos front-rower Singleton is sure they will be better for it and he is happy to lend his own experience.
“I feel like I can share a lot with individuals like Liam and Morgan” said Singleton.
“This will be my twelfth season now. I hope to share my experience and hopefully they will benefit from that.
“There are certain characteristics in a good prop and a good forward, one being experience. I think you learn on the way.
“You can be the best athlete in the world at 21 or 22, but it’s probably later on you hit your prime and the only way they can get better is by having more seasons.
“They’re all great athletes with a great attitude and they can all turn it on.The more experience they get, the better they’ll be.”
As well as Singleton, there is more experience to lead the way this year with fellow props Mago and Ellis joining from South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons respectively.
There’s a long history of forwards joining Super League from the NRL and making little impact but Singleton is sure it’ll be a different story for the new Wigan duo.
“I’ve been really impressed with them, it’s been a really smooth transition,” he said.
“I’ve seen NRL props come over and it takes a bit of time but these two seem to have bought into the culture straight away.
“I’ve played with them twice now and I believe that they’re going to transition pretty smoothly because they’re great players.
“You’ll see Paddy’s going to have that explosive offload and he’ll be hard to handle. Then Kaide looks a great athlete and a great prop.”
Last week Wigan received a significant injury blow with centre Iain Thornley ruled out for up to two months with an ankle injury suffered in his second debut for the club, the opening win at Hull KR.
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