IN terms of a pathway to becoming a Super League player, not even playing the sport until your early-twenties is hardly the ideal start.

That is exactly what Alfie Johnson has tasked himself with – but he is aware he has a lot of catching up to do having been given a chance by Warrington Wolves.

Despite only having made the switch to the 13-man code through a brief trial period at Leeds Rhinos over the summer, England rugby sevens international Johnson was snapped up by The Wire on a two-year deal for the 2025 season.

What that does give him is time – a handy thing to have given what he has to learn before making a push to play in the first team.

And he is under no illusions about the task ahead.

“I don’t want to do a disservice to rugby league in thinking that just because I’m a union and sevens player, I can come straight in and be better than everyone,” he said.

“Similar to what I’ve been doing with union, these lads have been doing this since they were young kids.

“You get to the point where it’s second nature and I have to learn that.

“I have to learn about the contact area and count tackles. For the rest of the guys, that’s completely innate.

“I’m still at the stage where I need to think about it and at the highest level, that split second could make all the difference in terms of scoring a try or conceding one.

“I’m going to try everything I can to get into the team and I’ll put my best foot forward every day.”

Alfie Johnson has played for England in rugby union's sevens format but had never played rugby league until going on trial with Leeds Rhinos last summer (Image: Joe Richardson) The 23-year-old has been signed with an eye on using him on the wing, where Matty Ashton and Josh Thewlis are The Wire’s established first-team options.

With Ashton’s return to training delayed following an extended break after international duty and Thewlis still recovering from a shoulder injury, however, Johnson has had a good chunk of pre-season to make significant progress.

Given this is his first real taste of a full-time pre-season, it has certainly been an eye-opener but the man who until recently was playing rugby union for Newcastle University believes he can feel the difference already, both physically and in terms of his understanding of the game.

“I was full-time as a sevens player, but that was a different kettle of fish as you don’t really have a pre-season,” he said.

“It’s my first full-time pre-season and it’s been tough – my body is definitely feeling the difference!

“Running back 10 metres after every tackle is something my calves have had to get used to, but I feel like I’ve learnt so much.

“If I watched my first training session back and compared it to my last one, they’d be worlds apart.

“All of the coaches have been brilliant with me, sitting me down and going through sessions and things like that.”

When Johnson’s signing was announced, a YouTube clip of some of his university rugby union highlights quickly did the rounds among supporters.

Watching it gives you a clue as to the kind of player they can expect to pull on their jersey, but how would the man himself describe his style?

“I’d say the biggest strength of my game is my ball-carrying – I’m quite a big body and I enjoy the yardage carries, which apparently is quite a strange thing,” he said.

“I enjoy that arm-wrestle, running hard and seeing if I can beat the middles in the contact areas.

“A lot of sevens is high-ball related as well so I enjoy that side of it, too, and I like coming out of the line and making tackles.”