Ellis out to show NRL benefits

Gareth Ellis is hoping England fans will see an improved version of the former Leeds and Wakefield second rower when he makes his first international appearance as a Wests Tigers player this weekend.

Ellis, who signed off from Leeds by helping his side to Super League grand final glory at Old Trafford 12 months ago, won his ninth cap in November's World Cup semi-final before staying on in Australia to take up a three-year NRL contract with the Tigers.

He will resume his England career against Wales in Bridgend on Saturday before getting down to the serious business of the Four Nations series.

Ellis was a shoe-in for coach Tony Smith's squad after proving himself over the years to be one of Super League's leading forwards and, after winning over fans Down Under by taking out Wests Tigers' player of the year award at the first attempt, he cannot wait to show off the new Gareth Ellis to a British audience.

"I guess everyone will get to see over the next few weeks whether it has improved me or not," he said.

"I think I've grown as a person on and off the field. It freshened me up, leaving a club and going to a new one sort of got the ball rolling again.

"I had to fit in and work hard to get the respect of the players and that set me off on the right foot."

Ellis was the only Briton plying his trade in the NRL this year once former Leeds utility back Jordan Tansey left Sydney Roosters in mid-season for Hull.

But he will be joined at Wests in 2010 by Wigan's 21-year-old loose forward Mark Flanagan while his England team-mate Sam Burgess, 20, is joining South Sydney and Ellis has no doubt that both will come back better players for the experience.

He confirms the widely-held belief that the NRL is a superior competition to that of Super League but says that is largely because of its structure rather than actual playing standards.

"I had a good pre-season, which I hadn't had for a long time with how the competition is over here," he explains.

"You only get two or three weeks before you're back in training and you're back playing again, whereas over there I had a good eight weeks pre-season and I benefited from that.

"The challenge of the NRL is to play consistently every week because, if you have an off day, you get found out.

"That in itself improved me as a player and I think it would benefit the international game no end to have more British players out there.

"It is the best competition in the world in terms how how competitive it is. Canterbury Bulldogs finished second this year after coming bottom last year. No disrespect to Celtic Crusaders but I can't see them doing that next year.

"To get players into that environment would benefit them no end."

Despite the inadequacies of the British game, Ellis has words of encouragement for his team-mates ahead of their clashes with Australia and New Zealand.

He joined Smith's initial train-on squad for its first session a month ago after Wests failed to make the NRL play-offs and has been impressed with what he has seen so far.

"It's been great training and meeting some old faces and some new ones as well," he said. "I've only been away