GEORGALLIS HAS SIGHTS ON TROPHY

MULTI-NATIONAL Warrington Wolves new signing Steve Georgallis has come to town in the hope of winning a major trophy before he retires.

However, the Australian with a European passport is hoping to continue playing for the next two or three years.

The 32-year-old half back, hooker or loose forward with a Greek father, a Dutch mother and Scottish wife is on a one-year contract with the Wolves and will be looking to impress in order to extend his deal.

Despite playing most of his rugby in Australia, as well as previous spells in England for Carlisle and Wakefield, he is yet to land a significant trophy.

The closest he has come is the Australian Premiership semi-finals in 1996 and at representative level he played for New south Wales Under 21s.

Georgallis said: "I have come to Warrington because I thought it would be a good chance to win a competition.

"There were a few English teams interested but Warrington looked to be the best team to join. The Wolves looked like they could be the most successful from the players they have obtained on top of the talent they already have."

Georgallis believes the mixture of ages at Wilderspool will bode well for the season ahead. However, he showed his admiration of a player who may be in direct competition for a place with him.

Georgallis said: "Warrington have up and coming players like the five-eighth who played for Wales (Lee Briers) plus there are a lot of experienced players so it is a good combination between the old and young.

"The young help the older with enthusiasm and the older ones help the youngsters with experience, so it works out great."

Georgallis has competition for each position he can fill. The position he will possibly have the least number of players chasing is loose forward but there is the huge matter of Tawera Nikau to contend with.

Georgallis said: "To be honest I don't know where I'll be playing. I haven't spoken to Darryl properly about it yet.

"We will sit down and talk about the best position for me and he knows that I can play a lot of positions so that is a bonus for me.

"Early in my career I played scrum half or stand off and towards the back end I moved to loose.

"Hooker has been the position I have played least.

"I am not bothered what position I play so long as I am on the rugby field.

"I feel that all the positions I can play are basically the same. They are all high work rate positions. You always have the ball in your hand which is what I like.

"Defence is one of the key aspects of my game plus my work rate and getting around the football field and filling in positions so I am a jack-of-all-trades really which is why I get the label utility player.

"If Darryl wants me to start at hooker then I will make that my number one position. Hopefully he'll tell me where he wants me to play soon so I can concentrate my mind on starting the season in that position in the next couple of months training with the team."

Warrington should be confident that the resident from the former British-dominated area of Coogee, in Sydney, will stay injury free.

He said: "I had a few injuries early in my career including a broken leg. Up until 25, injuries prevented me from achieving better things but I have only missed three games in six years, from the age of 25 to 31."

Georgallis joins Warrington from the merged Wests Tigers club in Sydney which was more of a takeover of Western Suburbs by Balmain Tigers.

A lot of the Wests players had not wanted to move. It was that factor which made Georgallis want to leave the new club. He was captain of Western Suburbs before the move.

This could be the biggest season of his career even though it has arrived quite late on for him but he made it quite clear that he is here to win.

He added: "I'm still enjoying the game, I'm still having fun and I'm still learning."