Wigan Warriors: Tom Forber discusses the influence of Sam Powell and reveals how he is learning from him

The 30-year-old hooker is celebrating his testimonial year throughout 2023, with Sunday’s pre-season game against Salford Red Devils at the DW Stadium among a number of events marking the occasion.

Forber states he’s benefited from being around the Warriors’ senior players during the off-season, and is pleased with the way he has developed alongside them.

He said: “I’ve been watching Sam Powell and Brad O’Neill a lot because we play in the same position, and they have taught me quite a bit about my detail around the ruck.

“I feel like I’ve picked up a load, but I don’t just want to learn from that, I want to compete with them at the same time, just to give them competition.

“I want to be playing games this year so I’m working hard.

“Hopefully I can help them as well, and we can make each other better at the same time.

“I want to learn as much as I can, but at the same time I want their spots.

“They are both great lads, I love them both to bits, and they are helping me as much as possible.

“They’ve helped me with the change of tempo. Sometimes I was too fast to everything or trying to rush stuff, so they’ve just told me to calm down at times.

“I’ve taken that on and it has worked well for me so far.

“It really helps me when I train with the older lads like Pow (Sam Powell), because I can see how he leads on the field and in the changing rooms, and just how he talks to all of the players.

“I try to take a bit of that back to the younger lads and hopefully we can all come up together.

“It’s a good group, so I want to see as many of us come through as possible.”

Forber was part of the Grand Final reserves winning side last season, and believes the competition was beneficial to everyone involved.

“It was a credit to all of the lads who played reserves week in, week out,” he added.

“They were playing with different people every week and it was tough at times because you may only have one session together.

“When we turned up on game day, we all worked hard for each other.

“We’re big on competing, we compete for everything.

“If there is a ball on the floor then you want to be there first because that is what will help you to improve.”

Forber came off the bench to score in Wigan’s 26-14 pre-season defeat to Barrow Raiders at the weekend.

The game proved to be a good test against a tough Championship opponent.

Like in the first pre-season game against Whitehaven, a number of players from the academy and the reserves featured for the Warriors, while Abbas Miski, Patrick Mago, Brad O’Neill, Kaide Ellis and Joe Shorrocks were added to this week’s squad.