Saints new signing, Ben Barba, and speaking to Paul Sculthorpe after his first training session Barba said “I’m enjoying being over here finally and getting stuck in at my first day of training today, I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”
On his new teammates the former Cronulla man added “They’re a close bunch of guys here, it was easy coming here, they all introduced themselves, its a very friendly place and that’s going to make it a lot easier for me over the coming weeks.”
Barba revealed his meeting with Saints CEO Mike Rush and former players Paul Sculthorpe, Sean Long & Paul Wellens was instrumental in convincing him St Helens was the right club for him
“It was an easy decision for me. Obviously I had here or Warrington to go to but this place had an effect and after meeting Mike it was an easy decision.”
Barba played alongside former St Helens and current Canterbury prop James Graham and revealed both joked about when Graham makes a return to England he would bring Barba with him and they would play at St Helens together. “I’ve beaten him to the punch and I’m here first but hopefully I can lure him back here to finish off his career” added Barba.
Barba joins St Helens after a stint playing rugby union for Toulon but is currently serving a 12-match suspension, which Saints have said the club will appeal.
Barba says when he gets to pull on the red vee, fans can expect hard work from him, adding “hopefully the flashy stuff will come on the back of it, that’s what I’m well known for. I’ll work hard off the pitch and hopefully make them happy on it”.