Tigers grab Grehan

The 23-year-old has signed a one-year deal after being recommended to the Tigers by former player Dale Fritz, his strength and conditioning coach at his Sydney club Western Suburbs.

Grehan was man of the match in Western Suburbs' Illawarra league Grand Final victory in September before moving to Europe.

"I'm looking to earn a two-year deal and settle down over here," said Grehan. "Both my mum and dad are English and I've always wanted to come and play here.

"This is a big opportunity for me and I intend to make the most of it."

Depth

New Castleford coach Ian Millward had been looking to add a centre to his squad and believes he could have unearthed a gem in Grehan, who began training with his new team-mates on Monday afternoon.

"Centre is an area where we are short in numbers and we needed depth in this position before the season started," he said.

"Jimmy runs very good lines in attack and has good mobility in defence.

"He is more of a second row who can play centre but we believe we might have unearthed someone on an incentive-based contract in Jimmy who we might want to tie down if things work out as a second row in the longer term.

"In the short term he will be useful in that he can do a good job for us in the centres.

"He passed his medical this morning. He's in good shape, very athletic and defensively he brings some good qualities.

"With the team averaging 30 points a game last season, it was a case of asking ourselves whether we feel he can help improve our defence. We feel he can and that is why we have signed him."