Wire’s new recruits back in training and fired up for 2024

New signings brave the tough winter conditions and settle into life in Warrington.

Pre-season training has been under-way for a few weeks now, but how do the cold winter conditions in England compare to those summer training camps in Australia?

Two of Warrington’s latest oversea arrivals have both struggled waking up in the morning to find their cars frozen over. Normal in this country, but somewhat surprising to some.

Lachlan Fitzgibbon has joined the club after a nine year stint at Newcastle Knights. The drastic differences in pre-seasons will surely be tough on his body, he told Prost International:

“I’ve been here a few weeks now, we’re training hard but its been good. I’m a step back from the full contact at the moment but I’ve been recovering well and I’ll be full noise come Christmas time.

“I went to get in my car and it was just iced over, I’ve got no scraper so I just sat with the fans on waiting for about 10 minutes.”

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Fitzgibbon’s nine years at the Knights saw him make 119 appearances, and score 32 try’s. He’s seen as a top signing for Warrington by many, and he believes that this was a perfect time to commit to a new challenge:

“I’ve never seen myself playing for another club in the NRL and Super League has always been on my radar, when I signed last year Wire were doing really well.

“This sport works in little windows and me and my partner felt this was the perfect time to head overseas and accept and new challenge and I’m super pumped to be here.

“Warrington’s a great town with rich history and it reminds me a bit of Newcastle, it’s a one club, one team town, and that’s made the move even easier.”

Zane Musgrove put pen to paper with the Wolves after his short-term contract expired in Australia. He’s also never spent a long period of time in the UK, but told Prost International that he was enjoying his experience:

“We’re training hard but I’m enjoying it.

“Waking up with frost on my car for the first time I didn’t know what to do, I was panicking a little bit but I’ll get used to it, and training in track suits has been good.

“I had a long layoff so I’ve been itching to get back into, I was sat at home twiddling my thumbs so I’m just happy to be back.”

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Warrington lacked strength in depth with their forward line in 2023, so Musgrove and Fitzgibbon have been brought in to bolster the pack. They do however, have big shoes to follow.

Wire’s Paul Vaughan had an exceptional debut season in primrose and blue, scoring six try’s and racking up a mammoth 3301 metres gained. Musgrove went on to say:

“Vaughany had a really good year and hats off to him, he’s such a fierce leader, I can’t wait to take to the field with him.

“I want to be a dominate forward in the game just like Vaughany, I want to show leadership towards the younger boys in the team and just get my job done.

“Everything I’m hearing about the club is positive. We’ve got a good team and I think that’s going to bring the best out of me.”