Faumuina keen
to impress

Although he has the lowest profile of the three players making the short-term switch to engage Super League from the NRL, Sione Faumuina is hoping to impress enough to pave the way for a longer stint in the future.

The 24-year-old New Zealand Warriors forward has joined Hull until the end of the current season which could see him play a maximum of six games should John Kear's men make it to the Grand Final.

And despite his move making fewer headlines than those of Andrew Johns to Warrington and Adrian Morley to Bradford, the Kiwi international is backing himself to make an immediate impact.

He said: "It's different to be here to say the least. I'm very excited about the possibility and I'm really looking forward to showcasing my stuff on the other side of the world. When you look that there's just three of us coming over, and I'm up there alongside Adrian Morley and Andrew Johns, I'm not in bad company.

?I first heard about the possibility of coming over about a month and a half ago but my team in the NRL were still in contention for the play-offs so I thought that everything had died down, but as soon as we didn't make the top eight I got a phone call from Hull and that was that."

After being the first club to flirt with a short-term loan by bringing Johns over, Warrington were widely linked with Faumuina as well, but he admits that moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium was never an option.

"They were interested but they were talking about a long-term deal," said Faumuina, who has two caps for New Zealand.

"I'm still under contract with New Zealand for another two seasons and what we've got going on there is pretty exciting at the minute so I'm not looking to leave.

"I'm looking at this as an opportunity to show everyone over here what I'm capable of and hopefully open a few doors for me to be able to come back and play here once my contract with New Zealand is up."

With both Morley and Johns taking the opportunity to acclimatise to the English game ahead of the end of season Tri Nations tournament, Faumuina has taken the strange step of making himself unavailable for selection.

"I have agreed with the Warriors that I will play at stand off for them next season," he said. "So I owe it to myself and to my club to have a full off-season and prepare for the new challenges ahead of next year. It's tough to rule yourself out of playing for your country but the chance will come again.

"Before then there's a chance I can help Hull get to the Grand Final and go back home with some stories to tell.?

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Thanks to www.superleague.co.uk for this article.