IT is difficult not to feel intimidated when the great, hulking figure of Leilani Latu comes striding in your direction.

After all, this is the man brought in by Warrington Wolves to fill what many considered to be a gaping hole in their pack.

They need durability and brute force and at 6ft 2ins and 17.5 stone, Latu should provide – with perhaps the little extra of being a comfortable footballer thrown in.

His move to England is about rescuing a professional career that has stalled dramatically after a promising start.

After two nightmare years at Gold Coast Titans, it is a chance he is desperate to take.

“I’m just excited. This is a new chapter for me,” he told the Guardian.

“I’m just taking it in at the moment but it’s very exciting.

“Coming out of that environment at Gold Coast, it’s a fresh start and I need to make my mark very quickly over here.

“From what the lads are saying, Warrington is a rugby league town and they expect excellence here.

“When someone comes over to play, they expect you to perform and I want to show that.

“I just want to strap my boots on and play.”

Latu’s desire to get out there is understandable given he has done so just nine times at first-grade level over the past two seasons.

Much of 2019 was spent playing in the Queensland Cup for Tweed Heads Seagulls, but the 26-year-old says that formed a big part of rebuilding his mentality.

The next phase of that process brings him to the other side of the world and a new competition entirely.

“The first year took me off guard a little bit,” he admits.

“I walked into a new club expecting that I would make a lot of things happen and when they didn’t, I became a victim of myself a little bit. I made excuses for things.

“It wasn’t just affecting my footy but also at home with my wife and kid. I had to learn a lot of things.

“I didn’t have my family there but I did have my church and that balance between church and footy helped me out heaps.

“The second year rolled around and I was a bit optimistic that things would change, but they didn’t.

“The difference was my headspace was stronger, clearer and more resilient.

“I told myself that if I wasn’t going to get picked for first grade, I would put 100 per cent into whatever team I was playing for.”

Warrington Guardian:

Latu in action for the Titans. Picture by NRL Photos

Having arrived in England on Sunday, Latu trained with his new teammates for the first time yesterday, Wednesday, as they went through their final preparations for their season opener at Wigan Warriors tonight, Thursday.

But how long can Wire fans expect to wait before they see their new man in action? And when they do, what can they expect to see?

“In terms of physical fitness, I’m ready to go,” he said.

“I’ve got no excuse. If they want me to play, I will play.

“I did a whole pre-season with Gold Coast. Once they knew I had signed at Warrington, they just made sure I maintained my fitness but I couldn’t really do a lot of team stuff.

“I’m spending a lot of time with the staff here just to get the plays and calls right.

“I don’t want to come here and slow down training. I want to just roll straight in and know exactly where I need to be.

“I’ve watched a handful of Super League games, but experiencing it is very different.

“I like the ball in my hands and passing it, but there’s a time and place for it. I’m not always looking for that pretty play.”

Latu will eventually be joined in England by wife Kenina and son Lennox but until then, he has some catching up to do with old friends.

Ben Murdoch-Masila and Sitaleki Akauola were among his teammates at Penrith Panthers, but his friendship with the latter goes even further back.

“Me and Sita have been together since we were eight or nine years old,” he said.

“When he moved over to Australia, he stayed with his aunt who was from the same village as my Dad.

“My Dad and I would go to her house and take groceries for her and Sita would be upstairs and never came down.

“I’d wonder who this guy was who never came to say hello to us!

“I played against him when I was at the Bulldogs and he was at the Tigers.

“He lived in the same area as me so we carpooled every day when we were at Penrith together. I then ended up buying a house a little bit further out and he then leased one two minutes away.

“I kept telling him he was following me, but now it’s the other way round.

“We were talking about it the first night I got over here – we’re both pinching ourselves that we’ve found ourselves together again on the other side of the world.”