KARL Fitzpatrick expects Warrington Wolves’ youngsters to keep the senior members of the squad on their toes this season.

The club’s player welfare manager has been impressed with Wolves’ new arrivals, but also the Academy graduates who travelled with the squad to Tenerife.

“They’re keeping up with the leaders and the senior pros,” said the former Salford full back. “We did seven days in Tenerife. The likes of Joe Philbin and the King brothers have been impressive in training. Everyone’s going to be challenging for a starting spot against Salford (on Saturday) and it’s a healthy challenge. That competition for places is great. Only Simon Grix is injured.”

Fitzpatrick is also confident Wolves are already feeling the benefit of a new indoor training facility at Padgate.

“We came back from Tenerife and there was snow and frost in Warrington, but we were straight in there,” he explained.

“Other teams are struggling and trying to find a decent pitch to train on, now we’ve got our own. I think we are the only Super League team with that.

“The prep has been unbelievable. We’ve added three quality new players, we’ve added Richard Agar who’s brought freshness to the squad and also a new training facility.”

He says Ashton Sims, Daryl Clark and Gary Wheeler have settled in nicely.

“Ashton is a big presence off the field, a leader and he’s been really pleasant within the group,” he added.

“Daryl has brought an x-factor and we’re impressed with Gary. We've admired him for a long time and that’s highlighted in his training. He’s got good feet, high skills levels and can do a great job either at centre or at half back.”