By Nathan Davis
St George Illawarra Dragons second-rower Joel Thompson admits the team is focused on the task ahead against the Warrington Wolves at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington on Friday.
The Forbes Magpies junior is part of a 20-man travelling squad that has been selected to compete in the fixture north of equator as part of the inaugural World Club Series.
Thompson, 26, is adamant that the entire squad have learnt some valuable lessons from their 12-all Charity Shield draw against the South Sydney Rabbitohs and hope to implement them against their European Super League opposition.
“It was a little bit disappointing that we didn’t finish the game with a win, but it is a learning curve,” said Thompson.
“We learned from the experience that we need to focus more in defence when were up on the scoreboard.
“It was good, especially our defence and line speed.
“Our structures all worked well, so it was great to see that everything we trained so hard for worked out for us.
“It’s been a tough preseason so it was good to put all the training into practice and we were all pretty happy with ourselves.
“It was great to see that the whole squad got a run.
“All the boys, I could go through them all, played well.
“They all ran out and stood up, it was awesome.
“We are all now looking forward to the World Club Series match and know that there is a job to do.
“We will still be training like we would be in Australia as it is a very important game and will be playing as if it were an NRL game.
“In the week we have before the game we will be focusing on training hard as we can, making sure we are prepared for Warrington and then the new season.”
