WARRINGTON Wolves prop forward Paul Wood has received a late 21st birthday present.

The England A squad member, who turned 21 on Thursday, has signed an extension to the contract that was due to run out before the end of the year.

He has settled for a further 12 months with the Wilderspool club and it is hoped he will continue to build on the promise he has shown.

The Wolves' head coach Paul Cullen said: "I'm particularly keen to retain the potential in this player.

"He's fit, dynamic and I'm convinced there's more mileage in him than what we saw in the season just past."

Over the past 12 months under three different coaches former Ince St. Williams amateur Wood found himself in both front and second row positions but Cullen regards him as a prop who can make impact.

Cullen said: "I see him as a prop forward as opposed to being a second rower but he can cover that position for us.

"He has the ability to make impact, certainly from a rotational point of view at this time of his career, where we can get fast feet on the field off the bench.

"We intend to play an aggressive go-forward style of football and when Paul goes on the field he's got one of the quickest play-the-balls in the club. That is something we're looking to enhance on for next year."

Over the next week Wood will be one of three Warrington players hoping to make the final cut for the England A match against New Zealand at Brentford on October 31 followed by a three-week tour of Australia, Fiji and Tonga.

Ben Westwood and Paul Noone are also in the running for places but 29 names will have to be cut down to 22.

Cullen will be assistant coach to Wigan assistant John Kear for the England A games and he said the Warrington trio have been training well for it.

In general, it has been a week of negotiations for Cullen.

He said: "All we're involved in at the moment is the bump and grind of negotiation. It's a status quo at the moment. There's nothing definitely happening with players coming in and there's nothing definitely happening with players going out. We're continuing to negotiate."

One player not needing to enter into negotiations is Noone.

It had been widely believed, after an announcement by former performance director Steve Anderson last year, that the young back row forward was coming to the end of his current contract but he has a further 12 months of his current deal to run.

Cullen has quashed one rumour though, after newspaper reports were linking Wolves to Salford City Reds' Australian utility back Damian Gibson.

Cullen said: "We haven't spoken to Damian Gibson. The rumour is totally unfounded. He is not in my plans."