ALEX Walmsley has spoken of the ‘drug’ of success and the fact he wants more this season.
Fresh from a Championship winning 2014 and an intensive pre-season Saints are now preparing to host Catalan in their first game of the First Utility Super League.
And the big prop knows the Dragons and the other 10 teams in the comp will be gunning for them.
“We are going into the new season as Champions and that will make it tougher,” he said. “We will have to take the intensity of pre-season forward and raise our game.
“You always need to test yourself in pre-season and we have had tough games. Players wanted to impress the coach and I have to say the squad looks as good as it has ever been – certainly since I have been here.
“The boys have got bigger and stronger and coupled with a strong pre-season, that will stand is in good stead.”
He continues: “A few of the boys missed out on the Grand Final because of injury and you could see on their faces what it meant to them. It showed what this sport means to them.
“To finish it off without those players made it more special. Everyone wrote us off and that made it more special. We knew we could compete and that would give us a real chance.
“It’s like a drug, an addiction, especially for the boys that went there for the first time. It was an unbelievable feeling.
“You saw what it meant to the senior players to play in those games, even though some of them have been in a few. It is the pinnacle of rugby league and something we want to do again.”
Tickets for the home opener against Catalan are on sale from the Ticket Office at Langtree Park, by calling 01744 455 052 or online here.
