BEN Harrison has revealed the change of outlook on his rugby league career thanks to his involvement with the England squad over the last 13 months.

The 22-year-old, currently on tour with Steve McNamara’s national team for the Four Nations tournament in New Zealand and Australia, had his best season yet with Warrington Wolves in 2010.

He became the only player to appear in every round of Wolves’ historic back-to-back Challenge Cup triumphs and Tony Smith only failed to select him once all season - and that was to give him a deserved rest!

The huge and tough Cumbrian forward feels his substantial progress is partly a result of the inspiration he took from his training weeks under Smith’s England last autumn, although he missed the cut for the 2009 Four Nations campaign.

Harrison, who made his England Test debut against Australia in Melbourne on Sunday, said: “To be involved with it, it really did inspire me and give me a new focus on rugby and made me set my goals for where I want to be and set my goals a bit higher on achievement.

“I think I was a little content with myself before. I was just happy to play and I was happy with how I was playing.

“Then Tony pulled me to one side and said I had an opportunity and I should make the most of it.

“Tony’s helped me a lot in that regard. He’s looked after me and pushed me in the right direction.”

Harrison, who had previously represented Ireland in the 2008 World Cup, added: “Tony said that with England last year he wanted to give me a taster of what it’s about and what I could achieve if I set my mind to it.

“It was a massive eye opener in terms of the difference in how professional some people take the sport.

“To be fair, rugby was a hobby for me that I got paid to do. I never took it half as seriously as what I saw from some of the other people there.

“They had the job as their lifestyle and were 100 per cent dedicated to it, so it was a massive eye opener for if you want to play at top level.

“I find the whole experience of training with people from different clubs and learning how they train - and their mentality - really interesting and intriguing.

“I loved the opportunity to be around such talented players and now I’m learning what it’s like on tour.

“To be recognised and to be there or thereabouts is a privilege, and to play for your country is a great honour.”

Smith previously spoke about his hopes that Wolves winger Chris Riley would get as much out of his England squad time this year as Harrison did at the end of 2009 with another England first-timer, Chris Bridge.

“The more people that experience the international scene from Warrington Wolves, the better it is for the club,” said Harrison.

“Benny Westwood has come on leaps and bounds. He has been outstanding but for a long time was unrecognised.

“Now a lot more people are seeing the work that he does.

“He’ll admit himself that being on tour in the past has changed the way he has played the game.

“As for Chris Bridge, if his partner had not been having a baby, he would have been on this year’s tour.

“So it just shows how good we’re doing as a team at Warrington. Hopefully, this all helps the players develop more and it all bodes well for the future.”