GENE Ormsby is confident Warrington Wolves are beginning to reap the rewards of investing in their academy.

The 21-year-old is a product of the Wolves youth system himself, having joined the club as a 16-year-old from Oldham-based amateur side St Annes.

The winger made his first team debut during an 18-12 defeat at Leeds Rhinos earlier this season and has since established himself as a regular in Tony Smith’s side.

“I came here as a 16-year-old,” said Ormsby. “So I think that five years of work is now paying off a little bit.

“Warrington have a really good academy and we have really good academy coaches, I think now it’s showing through the work that they have put in years ago.”

Ormsby grabbed his ninth try of the season in the win against Salford Red Devils on Sunday and feels he is continuously learning to find scoring positions with every Super League outing.

“The team are in a good position at the moment and we keep working hard,” he added. “It was a tough game but we stayed together and we got the win.

“I feel as I’ve been playing I’ve found out where to be, found the knack of where to be in the team and places to be around to score.

“I think it’s just game time, the more games you play the more likely you are to pick up and know how other people play.

“This is my first year playing for the first team, I’ve been training with them for a few years but I reckon the more I play the more it’ll come.”

Ormsby spent most of last season at Wolves’ partner-club Swinton Lions, but has enjoyed donning a primrose and blue jersey this year and is hoping to top a debut campaign with some silverware.

However, the flying winger admits Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby Smith keeps the side’s eyes set only on their next task.

“I’m really, really enjoying it,” explained Ormsby. “It’s completely different to just training, the intensity is just unreal and that’s the main difference in the games.

“We don’t really talk about the end of the year, we just talk about the next game.

“It’s just about doing what we can do week in, week out and then seeing where we end up at the end of the year – I think everything is in our grasp.”