Bradford Bulls' major new signing Lesley Vainikolo, pictured, has seemed more concerned with running off the after-effects of his mother's cooking for the last two days than the chilly weather.

The 22-year-old arrived from New Zealand on Wednesday and hasn't played a match since last May, but is already in training in preparation for next month's World Club Challenge match against Newcastle Knights.

"The temperature when I left Auckland was 25 or 26 degrees centigrade, but I expected these sort of freezing temperatures when I got here," said the man nicknamed 'The Volcano'.

"But I have everything I need here. Joe Vagana has been showing me around and helping me to settle in.

"He's been telling me which places are good and which are bad, and I already know the back-roads way from Pudsey!"

An ankle injury followed by a chest injury meant Vainikolo missed the later stages of the last NRL season with Canberra Raiders, but he admitted: "I am building up the training bit by bit and I'll see what happens.

"My injuries are getting stronger, but I am in full training and am looking forward to playing.

"The more I get the ball the better as far as I am concerned, and if there are a couple of tries in there so much the better!

"I could not wait to get back into training, but I did take Christmas week off because I can't say no to my mum's cooking."