Garner praises new recruits at Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers forward Luke Garner is excited for the opportunity to play alongside a number of new recruits when the season kicks off this weekend.

With the club recruiting well throughout the off-season, Garner is looking forward to seeing the likes of James Tamou, James Roberts, Joe Ofahengaue, Daine Laurie and Stefano Utoikamanu in action.

When asked by a reporter if he’s concerned about the players who left the club last year, Garner quickly replied.

“Have you looked at the names we’ve got this year?” he said.

“All these new additions are rep players. We’ve got a very impressive roster here. All the boys who have joined us — not just the rep players — have impressed me.”

Although Garner has been impressed by a number of new recruits, he offered extra praise towards incoming captain, Tamou.

“He’s one of the best leaders I’ve seen,” he said.

“I’ve taken some leadership out of that. I look up to him in a leadership type of way and he’s really impressed me with the way he carries himself.”

Wests Tigers will open their campaign in the nation’s capital in Round 1against Canberra Raiders — and Garner is ready for the challenge.

“We’ve trained months for this and it all starts on Sunday. We’re looking forward to putting in a good performance,” he said.

“Any team we play at this time of the year are going to be fresh and a challenge for us.

“The Raiders are a good team — they made the grand final a couple of years ago.

They have a good forward pack, but in my opinion, we have a really good forward pack too — so we’re looking to put it to them this weekend.

“We’re focussed on this year and not the past … our goal is to win the premiership and we’re going to be playing each game thinking of that.”