WARRINGTON Wolves new boy Josh McGuire says he and his family are settling into the town brilliantly.

The 32-year-old pack all-rounder has joined The Wire on a two-year deal after 14 seasons in the Australian NRL competition with Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys and latterly St George Illawarra Dragons.

But now a whole new chapter begins for the Australian and Samoan international, who has completed his first two weeks of pre-season training with The Wire.

He told the club’s fans forum on Thursday night: “Me and my family are loving it.

“We’re in Stockton Heath. It was very important for me to be in the community. My wife loves it. I have three little ones who are at Stockton Heath Primary School – a beautiful little school.

“My little boy can’t wait, keeps saying he wants to play soccer. So I’ve got to get him back over to rugby. Every time he says soccer at school, I say ‘No, you mean football.’ And he’s like ‘No, football is the one where you hold the ball’.

“We couldn’t wait to get over here, meet everyone, meet everyone at the club and get to work.

“There’s a lot of hard work to be done but I’m excited to be here and experiencing it with my three little ones and my wife.”

Brisbane-born McGuire revealed that he has always wanted a crack at playing in Super League and growing up he was inspired by future Warrington Wolves captain Adrian Morley.

“I’m what you would call a football head. I just love the game of rugby league in all parts of the world,” he said.

“I grew up watching rugby league in Australia. I was actually signed to Sydney Roosters first and at the time Adrian Morley was at the Roosters and he was my favourite player.

“He came back over here, and I remember growing up watching Bradford Bulls and then Leeds Rhinos in their glory days, and watching the World Club Challenges when the Broncos used to play against the teams over here.

“So I’ve always wanted to experience that. I was very fortunate to come over here with the Broncos. We played at Wigan a couple of years and we actually played here at Warrington and got spanked by you guys so it’s always been on my radar. Waiting for the right opportunity was probably the biggest thing.

“I talked to my wife about whether we would stay on in the NRL, but I’m at an age where physically I still feel really good and that if I was to come over here I didn’t want to come over here to make up the numbers, I wanted to come over here and perform at a high level any play some good football.

“And I think I’d be doing myself and this club a disservice if I came over here in a shape that I couldn’t perform at a high level. So the opportunity arose. We couldn’t get on the plane quick enough.

“I was very fortunate to have a long career in the NRL but to come to Warrington Wolves and put on this jersey is something very important to me.”

McGuire explained how his signing with Warrington Wolves came about by chance, meeting The Wire chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick through a mutual contact at the NRL Magic Weekend round earlier this year.

“I was having a coffee with one of the football managers at Newcastle Knights who was a good friend of mine from North Queensland Cowboys. Karl was sitting with him as well and it just happened to be we got talking,” said McGuire.

“We were just talking football. I don’t think it was ever on either of our radars, but it just happened and I’m so thankful that it did and I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to come over here and play football. I’m very excited, I feel really good and I just want to do something special for the club.”

Fitzpatrick chipped in regarding how the meeting progressed to McGuire signing for Warrington.

Karl: “A couple of things appealed to us. Firstly, with Josh being a footy head, being obsessed with the game, and his insight into Super League blew me away.

“I’d never come across an overseas player with as much insight into Super League. He knew all the players, knew all the coaches, knew all the grounds, which was really impressive.

“But secondly, and the most important, is his leadership.

“I’d heard from people within the game how he drives standards, how he leads by example, and I was just chatting to him about his values and his philosophies. He wasn’t selling himself (for a signing), we were just talking about the game in general and what he values in the game, and we’ve probably not had enough of that here for a couple of years.

“And I thought ‘You know what, he could be a perfect fit’. And it just went from there.”

McGuire spoke of how he has found bedding into training under Wire boss Daryl Powell.

“It’s been really good. To be honest, it’s been tough,” he said.

“Powelly’s come in with a plan. It’s no secret that last year we struggled in the defensive side of things. I think in the NRL we’re a little bit protected by the RLPA and we’re only allowed to do one tackling session per week to try and protect the players, but we’ve had six in the first week here.

“My wife said ‘Hey, how are you feeling’ and I said ‘Sore’. It’s been fantastic.

“It’s been a breath of fresh air to be honest. We’ve got a really exciting bunch of young men coming through the club who are really eager and willing to learn. They’re just a raw group of men that try really hard.

“I have to half-talk to the young fellas in the wrestle sometimes. They just want to always win. Being the old fella, I just have to set an example early.

“In Australia it’s different, all the young guys know everything straight away and they just kind of get away with skill whereas the guys over here are real grafters, really tough kids who want to learn and that’s probably been the most exciting part about being with this group of young men - just how eager they are to learn, so it’s been a really refreshing couple of weeks of training.”