RYAN Atkins has praised his wing man Kevin Penny for taking full advantage of a second spell at Warrington.

The centre looks to be forming a formidable partnership with the 27-year-old speedster, but feels the hype got to a teenage Penny who first took Super League by storm.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Atkins. “He’s a totally different person, totally different player – I think he’ll tell you that as well.

“I think a lot of the plaudits when he shot to stardom got to him a little bit and he started believing the hype.

“This time around he’s come in and done all the hard work. He’s put on the size, he’s done extra defensive work, extra catching and he’s just willing to learn.

“He’s enjoyable to be around, to have him on my wing is brilliant.”

However Atkins expects Wolves’ forwards to take centre stage against St George Illawarra Dragons tomorrow, Friday.

“It’ll be tight, physical and a bit fiery,” added the 29-year-old. “When we’ve got players like Ashton (Sims) and Bennie Westwood, you don’t expect anything less.

“They’ve got some fiery players as well and some big lads up front, some magic out back in Benji Marshall, Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan, so it’s going to be exciting.

“It will be a lot down to the forwards and, if we do get a chance, we need to finish it unlike we did at Hull FC.”

Atkins missed out on a spot in Steve McNamara’s Four Nations squad last Autumn, but will not be pinpointing the World Club Series as a chance to show his worth against an Aussie outfit.

“I just want to be consistent and solid for Warrington,” explained the former Wakefield man. “I’ve always said off the back of that you put yourself in the shop window for potential international recognition.

“I’m feeling confident, we’ve trained really well. As you can see in the two Super League games and the Hull KR friendly, we’ve focused a lot on our defence.

“The NRL is renowned for being defensive and I don’t think there’ll be a lot of tries, but that’s exciting because we’ve emphasised our defence.

“We’ll be able to mix it well with them. Skill wise, defensively, aggression – whatever they want to bring to us we’ll match that.”

And Atkins says he can sense the excitement around the town.

"It’s massive, you can feel the buzz. It’s been built up and the fans will stop you in the street, it’s like a final," he added.

"They always are brilliant. No disrespect to Wakefield, because they’ve got some amazing fans, but I really noticed the difference.

"It’s more the amount of fans, Wakefield haven’t got as many core supporters as Warrington do and at home they’re outstanding, but they’re even better away.

"They’re all condensed into one spot when at home they spread out a little bit."

He is confident those fans will be in full voice on Friday night.

"They sing their hearts out. I must admit I do have a couple of boo boys every now and then, but on the whole they’re brilliant," he added.

"They spur us on, they turn up in their thousands at home and away they shock us as players – when you run out, all you can hear is the Warrington fans rather than the home team.

"It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It gives you extra motivation, as you don’t want to let yourself or the team down, but also the fans who have paid hard-earned money to come to the matches.

"This game’s not included in the season tickets, which is extra money, and money’s tight. But they don’t mind paying it.

"You see them with the shirts and the season tickets, then for one-off matches like this. If we can use that to spur us just a little bit then it’s good motivation."