Warrington sign Jason Clark from South Sydney Rabbitohs
Warrington have confirmed the signing of South Sydney Rabbitohs front-rower Jason Clark on a two-year deal from the 2019 season.
The 28-year-old will leave NRL side South Sydney Rabbitohs, where he has been a one-club man since his debut back in 2009. He has played over 150 games for the club.
Clark was part of the Rabbitohs’ 2014 Premiership-winning team in 2014 when they beat Canterbury Bulldogs in the Grand Final.
And the Australian is excited to make the switch to Super League.
Clark said: “I’m glad to have my contract organised with Warrington and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my career over in England.
“The past 11 seasons have been a young boy’s dream come true. All I’ve done is wear the red and green, and following discussions with Steve Price, Simon Moran and Karl Fitzpatrick, I’ll be able to extend my career in the primrose and blue of Warrington.
“Warrington is a similar club to Souths. They have a long and rich history which is something that attracted me to the club. Everyone I’ve spoken to says Warrington is a great club. They are very well organised, well coached and have a great playing squad. I’ve been watching them play over the past few months and they are playing an enjoyable style of football. They beat Wigan in the Challenge Cup as I was agreeing to join the club and success like that is a massive positive for me.
“They have veterans such as Ben Westwood as well as former NRL players such as Ben Murdoch-Masila, Tyrone Roberts, Sitaleki Akauola, and my mate Bryson Goodwin. Stefan Ratchford is a world-class fullback and Daryl Clark is a first-class hooker as well. They also have experienced players like Josh Charnley and Ben Pomeroy in the squad so I will have to get over there and prove myself to the team and earn a spot in the side.
“I’ve played against Warrington before when they travelled to Australia and played Souths at Redfern Oval in a pre-season trial match. They had a great following out here which really stuck in my mind and I loved the passion of the fans. It reminded me a lot of the passionate members we have at South Sydney. I played with Matt King that day for the Rabbitohs and he couldn’t speak highly enough of Warrington as a club. I’m looking forward to getting over there next year, but as I said we still have a job to finish here at South Sydney in 2018, and then I will give my all to the Wolves in 2019.”
Warrington coach Steve Price is glad to have the deal for Clark done and dusted, with several other Super League clubs believed to have been interested in the forward.
He said: “Having coached against Jason for a number of years he typifies what we are building here at our club.
“He’s a grand final winner and understands what a winning culture is. He is selfless; everything is about the team on and off the field. He understands hard work and it’s players like Jason who help to make a team a success.
“He’s the type of player who players love playing with and Sam Burgess recently classed him as one of his greatest ever team mates. There’s a lot to his game as he has ball-playing ability and an offload in there too.
“We feel he can bring us something different and he’s a first-class guy to go with it. We are very pleased to have signed Jason to our club from next season and he’s going to be a great acquisition.”
