WARRINGTON Wolves prop forward Roy Asotasi is looking for the new season to get off to a better start than the last.

By his own admission, it took him a while to settle into the way of things in Tony Smith’s side despite being a seasoned campaigner in the NRL and at international level as the former captain of New Zealand.

But his debut term in Super League, as a much-hyped replacement for Adrian Morley after signing from the South Sydney Rabbitohs club where he has legendary status, finished strongly for him.

The 32-year-old played some of his best rugby in a Warrington Wolves shirt towards the back end of the season and has another year on his contract.

“There were some ups and downs settling in,” he said.

“I feel like a learned a lot during the year and so it’s about ripping in for pre-season, and making sure I start the new campaign well.”

And Asotasi said it was only at the end of last season that he felt he had started to get to grips with what was expected of him.

“I felt like I’d only just started finding my feet with understanding the style of football, the structures and new teammates.

“Now I know all the structures and expectations and how Tony coaches, I feel like I’ll be ready for next season – ready to roll!”

Smith has highlighted numerous times this year that imports can take time to adapt to the ways of Super League and a change of surroundings.

He added: “Roy finished the season really strong with some of his best performances of the year.

“Sometimes it takes overseas players some time to settle in. For those that can recall, Trent Barrett’s first year for Wigan wasn’t too special and raised a lot of eyebrows as to whether he should stay.

“He then went on to become one of the dominant players in the league. I’m not necessarily saying that’s going to be the case for Roy, but he’s certainly improved and it’s common for overseas players.

“Another, who ended up being a crowd favourite, was Matt King. He took a season or so to become one of those players that excited people, so it’s not uncommon for people to take time to settle in.

“I’m delighted with the contributions that Roy made at the back end of the year.”

Smith, despite the loss of experienced players such as Michael Monaghan and Trent Waterhouse from his 2014 squad, is not expecting Asotasi to step further into a leadership role.

“We’ve got some great leaders and some guys with great experience who have matured and taken on board the influence of those players leaving have left behind,” he added.

“Other people have developed into being leaders, so experience and leadership it isn’t something of any concern."

“I’m delighted with what we’ve got and with the additions we’ve made to the squad it will be a continuing improvement.”