One of six new arrivals at the Wests Tigers, Jeral Skelton has opened up on his decision to move to the club after spending the past three seasons with the Canterbury Bulldogs.
While he may not be the Tigers' biggest signing heading into the upcoming season, the outside back is set to play a prominent role in the club's future after agreeing to a two-year contract with the Black and Orange team.
A former Rugby Sevens star for Australia and member of the now-defunct Melbourne Rebels rugby union side, Skelton will contend with the likes of Charlie Staines, Brent Naden, Luke Laulilii and Sunia Turuva for a spot in the starting outside backs.
In his first interview since moving to the Wests Tigers, Jeral Skelton opened up on his decision behind signing with the club and revealed that he turned down an opportunity to remain at the Canterbury Bulldogs.
"I love the Bulldogs and am very grateful for what they did for me. They gave me my opportunity to basically come to rugby league and I'm very grateful for that," Skelton told Zero Tackle.
"There was an option to stay at the club but I was definitely excited to come to the Tigers and I wanted to be here.
"When they approached me and had a meeting with them, I was very excited for the club and I definitely wanted to come here.
"I spoke with Benji and seeing the boys that were coming to this club, I know they want to turn this club around and definitely improve from last year and I feel like we've got a lot of good players to do the job this year.
"It's a good feeling seeing like Jarome [Luai] and [Sunia] Turuva coming to the club and Terrell [May]. I'm very excited for not only myself but for the club to get better."
Although he has only featured in eight NRL matches to date, the 25-year-old has been touted for big things since his arrival to the rugby league game and has continually been a standout performer in the NSW Cup competition.
In 33 NSW Cup appearances, he has scored 25 tries, made 33 line-breaks and averaged 179 running metres. This adds to his four first-grade tries and a career-best 302 running metres in 28 runs against the Brisbane Broncos.
"I was very close to a lot of boys in that team...it was hard to leave the club in general," he added about his exit from Belmore.
"The culture they have over there, everyone got really close and it was hard to say goodbye basically to the whole squad (and the) fans.
"I still get messages from them saying that I shouldn't have left. I don't really read into that stuff much but when I see some of those messages I'm very grateful for their support.
"It's a crazy fan base and they're doing well over there so it was a bit hard to leave."
Unlike other players switching to new teams, Skelton won't have to wait long to face his former club as the Wests Tigers will verse the Bulldogs in their first pre-season match on Sunday, February 16.
"I'm very excited for the game and it'll be good to see a few familiar faces on the field," Skelton said.
"I'm excited for the challenge. They're obviously a really good team, so just excited."