Amor wants Saints to ‘hit the ground running’
St Helens prop Kyle Amor hopes the Karalius Cup clash with Widnes Vikings this weekend provides an ‘intense’ workout.
Amor had an outstanding first season with Saints following his £50,000 move from Wakefield Wildcats, leading from the front as his new club won the 2014 Grand Final at Old Trafford.
Whitehaven-born Amor can’t wait to get back on the field and wants Saturday’s game with Widnes at Langtree Park to be match up as close as possible to the physicality of a Super League match.
“I think you just want a good hit out,” said Amor.
“Intensity is the key and what we’re all after. We’ve only really got two friendlies, we’ve got this one and Wigan, so we’ve got make sure we’re are all ready and hitting the ground running.
“We’re certainly after a good intensity in the game and everything we’ve been working on to make sure it is intense what we’re doing and things come off that we want to come off. We can’t wait for it and we’re looking forward to it.”
Leeds Rhinos beat off strong competition to sign Amor in 2009 yet it was not until he switched to Wakefield two years later that the Cumbrian began to mark himself out as one of the competition’s leading front rowers.
His move to St Helens saw him form part of an imposing set of forwards alongside Alex Walmsley, Mose Masoe and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, and that proved to be a bedrock of the club’s Grand Final success last season.
Amor said he did not appreciate how much of an achievement that was, particularly given the injuries in key play-making positions, straight away and he is hungry for more success this season.
He said: “It doesn’t really sink in until a couple of weeks have passed. You leave training and everyone goes off and does their own thing in the off-season.
“I got to go back up to Whitehaven and just chill out for a few weeks and it was then when it hit you exactly what we achieved as a group and under the circumstances that we did it was pretty special.
“I was really happy and really humbled and honoured to be part of that team.
“We had 30 days off after the final so it was a short turnaround and I suppose that’s the disadvantage if you get to a final, you don’t get much time off.
“As soon as we got back in we very much said that final’s gone now and although we did something good last year we want to do something great this year.
“We’ve been pretty much back to it since early November and everything’s been going very well.”