Back in the Wolf pack
Brendan Rhodes
Adam Schubert and Lee Hopkins are welcomed home by Wolves secretary-manager Chris Carl. The gun recruits had the job of unveiling the new Windsor Wolves home (green) and away (gold) strips.
The Windsor Wolves have landed a two-pronged recruiting coup heading into their history making 2008 season with the return of former junior stars Lee Hopkins and Adam Schubert.
Hopkins, 29, who signed with the Wolves last week, returns to his home club after playing 107 NRL matches for Penrith and Parramatta and 85 English Super League matches with the London Harlequins.
Schubert, 22, is back after spending four injury-plagued years with the Sydney Roosters, where he played five NRL matches in 2005, and captained their feeder team, the Newtown Jets, this season.
The dual signings are the first big fish to be attracted to the Wolves as they prepare to enter their debut season in the Premier League next year.
Hopkins, who plans to start in Jim Beam Cup in order to give something back, said it was great to be home, and was delighted to be able to do so while he still had something to offer.
My whole career Ive always planned to come back and play with Windsor, he said.
I feel like at some point you should give something back to where you started Windsor gave me a start and I wanted to come back and play for them and give a little bit back to some of the kids that are coming through to show them that they can make first grade from Windsor.
I didnt want to come back as a hack either a guy just coming back to get a bit of cash in his pocket.
Ill be 30 next year so Ive got a couple of years left where I can still play some decent footy.
You hear of a lot of guys who come back and play and just play for the cash basically, and Im not like that, Id rather come back and be able to still give Windsor a bit of my best, a bit of what Ive got left without being a hack on the field.
Schubert, who last played for the Wolves in their 2003 under 17s premiership victory, saw returning home as a chance for a fresh start and the perfect opportunity to resurrect his NRL career with Penrith.
The lock played five matches for the Roosters in 2005 as a replacement for freshly retired champion Luke Ricketson, but a series of injuries curtailed his progress.
Ive had a few injuries over the past four years which has probably stunted my career a little, so to put that aside Im still on the verge hopefully of getting back to first grade, Schubert said.
Im going to play for Windsor in the Premier League this year and try to play first grade again to give it another crack and if all goes well hopefully Ill be playing for Penrith in 2008.
I didnt think Id be back at Windsor so quick but Im happy to be back, my brother and my familys here, and theres a lot of old mates that I want to catch up with.
Its really good for Windsor to be in the Premier League comp, and hopefully we can have a good year theres been a few good signings and Penrith went pretty good in Premier League last year, so hopefully I can play well and play first grade thats the goal.
The first task for Hopkins and Schubert came on Friday when they were asked to model Windsors new look strip for 2008.
The new strip maintains the clubs traditional green and gold, but includes more white and a modern design to make it easier to see from the sidelines.
Weve stuck with our primary colours of green and gold but we tend to change our design every few years to whats fashionable at the time, and give them a modern look I think they look tremendous and the boys like them, Wolves secretary-manager Chris Carl said.
Theres a lot more white in them, which is easier to see from the sideline and is good for TV and good for the night games. I daresay well change them in a few years again but well always be green and gold.
Source: Hawkesbury Gazette
