A potential deal at the Warrington Wolves for new North Queensland Cowboys signing Thomas Mikaele collapsed at the end of the 2023 Super League season, the man himself has revealed.
Mikaele left Warrington at the start of 2023 only to return midway through the season, answering an SOS from the struggling Cheshire club.
That being said, the ex-Wests Tigers prop is now back in the NRL after a deal with Warrington fell through.
“It was a weird one, I have been waiting around,” Mikaele told the North Queensland Cowboys’ website.
“I thought I was going to head back to Super League and with Warrington but it fell through and then every other week it was a case of seeing in the news that I was going to end up here, there, this place, so me and my family didn’t know what was going on.
“Then the opportunity to come over here came up and me and my family wanted to stay in Queensland – being from Queensland ourselves – and we were happy to come up here, but it has been a funny one.”
Mikaele was, however, thankful for his time in Super League with the Wolves.
“I pretty much learnt everything in Super League. I learnt how to be a professional and everything from top to bottom. It sounds cliche, in my first few years getting games under my belt my mindset was that I was playing first grade but I slowly started to not enjoy it.
“For me going over to England was to find the enjoyment again, learn the game and find the enjoyment.
“At the start of the year I think I was scoring more tries than some of our backs which became a bit of a joke over there. Whether I score or not doesn’t matter, but as a forward it is nice to get over the line.”
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