Fire still burns for giant lock as he eye success with Wanderers

Jones left the Hunter Wildfires a month ago and is set to make his debut for Wanderers against Hamilton at Passmore Oval on Saturday.

The 200cm, 115kg lock considered having a crack at rugby league, but was lured to the Two Blues by cousin and former Wanderers prop Blair Rush.

"I couldn't commit to the Wildfires," Jones said. "I thought I'd be better off playing a bit of local footy.

"I was looking at a few clubs. A lot of the Wildfires from last year are spread all over the place, I thought Wanderers would be ideal for me. The talking point was if I go to Wanderers, Blair would come back and play. He better live up to his end of the deal."

Jones has been training with Wanderers for three weeks but a groin niggle has delayed his debut.

"I will see how it is Thursday," Jones said. "I did a bit too much running last Tuesday and it pulled up a bit sore. I am looking forward to playing with the Wanderers boys, especially being their 100th year. I will bring some experience. Hopefully we can take it out this year. That was one of the biggest things after talking to the coach Trevor Hefren. I want to win the competition."

Jones, who has been one of the premier locks in the Shute Shield for the past three years, is likely to play off the bench against the Hawks.

"At this stage, the physio is confident he will be right to go," Hefren said. "The plans is for him to come off the bench in twos and ones and work it out from there. He has to learn the attack structure but he is a high-quality player and don't imagine it will take him long.

"We want to have a bit of a rotation policy, especially among the second-rowers. It is a brutal competition. To be at your best come finals time, I think you do need to freshen players up at times."

Hefren also hopes to have former Eastwood prop Willie Leoso back on deck after missing the 17-15 win over Merewether with a bad cork.

Jones was in the stands at No.2 for the the win over the Greens.

"The standard was good and the crowd was awesome," Jones said. "It was just a wonderful day. Having 3000 odd there, it was good to see everyone still loves rugby."