WARRINGTON Wolves have signed Kyle Shelford on a part-time contract.

The 23-year-old will be captain of the club’s reformed reserve team and made his debut in the friendly against his former club Swinton Lions today.

Shelford, the son of former New Zealand and Wigan prop forward Adrian, made one Super League appearance for Wigan in 2016.

He spent 2017 on-loan with Workington Town, 2018 at Swinton Lions and was a teammate of another new Wire signing Matty Ashton with the Lions in the first half of last season before joining Rochdale Hornets.

CHECK THESE OUT: Swinton 16 Wire 12 match photos, summary and recap

He is hailed by club assistant coach Lee Briers as exactly the right man to have on board to fulfil a specific role at the club.

“Kyle’s been brought in to do a job,” said Briers.

“He’ll be captain of the reserves and also he’s going to be bringing our kids through.

“He was in the system at Wigan. I remember coaching against him and he’s a fantastic player.

“More importantly, at this stage of being academy lads they’ve got to be good people and they’ve got to understand work ethic.

“And there’s nobody better who we could have picked up from the Championship than Kyle Shelford.

“He sets standards in the gym, he’s a good person, he makes sure everybody around him is doing the right thing and he’s going to be absolutely fantastic for us.

“So his purpose is to lead the reserves but more importantly to bring the Academy boys through, setting standards at training.

“What I’ve seen so far, he’s unbelievable.”

He featured at hooker against Swinton, but is better known as a back rower.

Shelford could even feature in the Wire first team should the need arise.

“Touch wood we don’t suffer with injuries, but all the coaches are more than comfortable with Kyle being ready to go because he’s a true professional,” said Briers.