LUKE YATES says that pre-season at Warrington has been an eye-opener for him.
The 29-year-old made his move from Huddersfield earlier than expected back in July, getting up to speed with eleven appearances for the Wolves, which enabled him to hit the ground running in pre-season for 2025.
He had spent the previous three-and-a-half seasons at the Giants, following a year at Salford, playing under Ian Watson at both clubs.
Now the Australian plays under Sam Burgess, who identified him early in his reign at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as a target.
Yates said: “It’s been really enjoyable. I think I probably needed the change, with the different philosophies on strength and conditioning.
“Coming in last season took away all that finding your feet in pre-season. I knew everyone and all the coaches and systems already, so I was just coming in and working hard for the weeks we’ve been in.
“As an outsider coming in, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m really close to Lachlan Fitz(gibbon) and was talking to him about what they’re doing.
“At Huddersfield, we were training so hard and every day is monotonous when you’re going in flogging each other. Fitz was telling me that they were working hard here but probably working a bit smarter than we were.
“Coming in and doing this pre-season has been an eye-opener for me.
“I’d been under the same system with the same strength and conditioning coach for five years between Salford and Huddersfield and what they did was great, but having a change has been great as well.
“The key difference is the style of running that they do and obviously the intensity of the wrestling and the field sessions.”
The Wolves spent last week on a pre-season training camp in Tenerife, and have the history-making trip to Las Vegas on the horizon at the end of next month.
Before that, they have a Challenge Cup tie against Whitehaven and two Super League games.
Yates added: “I’ve never been in a tighter group than this. The things you get told to do for team building, we’re doing it anyway. Everyone’s in together, everyone’s meeting early and getting their work done. It will be good to spend more time together but I feel like the foundation is already built.
“There’s a good buzz about it (Vegas) but obviously we’ve got a couple of week’s work before we get over there. We have Huddersfield, Catalans and the Challenge Cup game. And everyone is going to want to put their hands up to play in that game (against Wigan).
“It’s good and it will grow the game, I think. If we take a strong squad, it’s going to bring more eyes on those clubs and bring them some money in, which is great.
“The cup game is going to be interesting. I know how hard it is going up against those teams. I played against Barrow (for Huddersfield) in 2022 and it was a really tough game.”
