Warrington's New Star Aims to Impress Fan Luke Littler with On-Field Skills

TOAFOFOA Sipley is already cooking at Warrington after teaching new team-mate Albert Hopoate how to produce the perfect steak.

Now the qualified teacher is looking to give out more lessons after arriving in Super League, with one of the town’s star pupils, Luke Littler, looking on.

Qualified teacher Toafofoa Sipley is looking to give out lessons after joining Warrington Wolves.Credit: SWPIX.COM

The world darts champion will be alongside his mates on the South Stand, where he still has a season ticket, as tonight’s opener against St Helens will pull in a huge crowd.

Now Sipley will look to school the Wolves’ opponents as they look to get back into the play-offs following a miserable 2025, after a crash course of his own.

Sipley said: “I’ve graduated with a Bachelor’s of Physical Education. If I wanted to, I could teach in secondary school.

“That’s definitely Plan B. My mum taught me at a young age to not put all my eggs in one basket. I knew I had to have a back up plan.

“So I chose the path of studying as you can’t play footy forever. Sorry, not footy, rugby. I’ll have to get used to that.

“I’ve been used to calling rugby league ‘footy’ over in Australia and New Zealand, whereas footy over here is soccer.

“When I was saying, ‘soccer,’ the boys would laugh at me because they say that’s what the Americans call it.

“It’s just little things like that. And I guess little slang words. Minging was probably the first one that got put on. Something that’s not nice.

“When it was cold weather, the lads would say, ’This weather is minging,’ and I thought it was breakfast, lunch, dinner. It’s breakfast, dinner and tea over here.”

Sipley may get used to crashing through more things than the language barrier between northern England, his native New Zealand and Australia, where he spent much of his career.

The 31-year-old knows why he has been brought on, to add size to a pack that was often beaten last term.

And when coach Sam Burgess came calling, there was only one answer.

Littler will be on he South Stand at packed Halliwell Jones Stadium cheering on Sam Burgess’ side.Credit: WARRINGTON WOLVES

Sipley, who has mates playing at moist Super League clubs, added: “I stick out like a sore thumb over here.

“I’m the heaviest in the team, so I think that’s what kind of got pitched. Warrington needed a big body in the middle and that’s something I want to bring.

“But as much as there are all these words I can say, it’s more a case of letting my rugby do the talking, so I’m excited to get out there in front of the Super League, experience this competition and see what value and what I can bring to this team.

“And having Sam as coach has been massive. It probably does kind of discredit a lot of my previous coaches, but I’ve learned more than I did probably over the 10 years I was in the NRL.

“It’s been refreshing to come over here and try to pick his brain.

“It’s those little nuggets. It’s not so much his coaching philosophy, but the little parts of the game that he’s able to drop in and out of training.”