SAINTS new signing Theo Fages was understandably happy to hear that he had made a big first impression in the two warm up matches – but knows that the serious business starts now.

The French half back, who was snapped up from Salford, was hailed by coach Keiron Cunningham as the sort of player that Saints could build their team around for the next decade.

Although delighted with that glowing testimonial, Fages is only thinking of 2016 and what he has to do to establish himself at a new club that has big demands and expectations.

Fages, who became France’s youngest ever captain in the autumn, declared: “Of course I am happy when I hear praise like that, especially from Keiron because everyone knows what a fantastic player he was and he is a good coach.

“But I am just thinking about this year and then seeing how it goes. I am still learning; I want to improve my game and be a part of the team and hopefully things will go well for me.

“Being here now is good place to be as I can learn plenty from Luke Walsh and Travis Burns in training, on top of that Sean Long, Keiron and Paul Wellens have all been there for me too.

“That said, I just don’t want to be there learning, I want to be playing. I am training hard so hopefully I can get in the team.”

Where he fits in is still a headache for Cunningham and much will depend on who he has partnering Walsh at half back.

Although he played in the halves in the trials, there is a strong possibility that some of Fages early chances may well come off the bench as James Roby’s relief number nine.

After missing much of last season when he resigned from Salford, Fages' hunger for game time was evident with his performance - but he is not getting carried away with those plaudits.

"I was just happy to get some game time. I had not played for a long time, apart from with France in the autumn.

"After all the all the hard work training it was just good to get back out playing.

"Although I had a good game against Dewsbury that is not exactly a Grand Final.

"I was excited – it was a new team for me and a new start I had to do the job.

"These games are are to show the coaching staff and the chairman that you can play and that you can be part of the team for the early rounds.

"Hopefully did that in the Dewsbury and Widnes games and I can be part of the team for the start of the season.

"As a player you want to make it hard for the coach to pick the team," Fages said.

The real business starts on Friday against the team that finished just above Saints last season.

"Huddersfield is a tough start but it is a home game, we get the chance to play in front of our fans.

"Huddersfield are a good team, but we want to start well," he said.