Joe Bullock working to keep place in Wigan Warriors side

The ex-Barrow prop was praised by coach Adrian Lam after his Super League debut in the 22-12 derby loss at St Helens.

He came off the bench and made several metre-eating carries, running for 100m - no Wigan forward made up more ground.

Lam's Warriors play their first home match on Friday when Dave Furner brings his Rhinos to the DW Stadium.

And having had a taste of the big-time, 25-year-old Bullock wants to remain in the frame.

"Hopefully I will still be there," he said. "If not then I'll graft back in to the side.

"I feel confident I can make yards, but I've got things to improve on, and that's what I'll be working on with the coaches to try and get better."

Bullock had a sense he may be used in the Super League opener after being rested for a friendly at his old club Barrow five days earlier.

But he only got told he would play the day before - though his family were in on the secret.

"When I didn't play against Barrow I wondered if I'd get a chance against Saints, but I didn't want to get too excited and let myself down," he said.

"I found out on Wednesday, it was nice of my family to come down to training - they already knew about it!"

Bullock experienced the Wigan-Saints derbies at academy level but says Thursday's game was "a different level".

"I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was amazing, the game was tense - I felt quite comfortable once I got into it," he said.

"We weren't firing on all cylinders but we were still in the game at half-time, unfortunately we made the errors that we did in the first-half.

"We were disappointed with the result but it's something we can work on."