YOUNG Plymouth Albion prop Dan Pullinger wants to try and bring success back to his hometown club.
The 20-year-old signed permanently for Albion this summer after spending last season at Brickfields as a dual-registered player from Exeter Chiefs.
Pullinger admitted he did not have to think twice about penning a deal with Graham Dawe’s side.
“I’m from Plymouth and Plymouth offered me a contract, so I just thought ‘yeah definitely’,” he said.
“I would like to be part of something successful and I think Albion are going to go in that direction in the next couple of years.”
He added: “There are not many of us who have stuck around from last season but there is a whole new bunch of boys and it is going to be nice to bond with each other in pre-season and look forward to that first game.”
Although Pullinger was contracted with Exeter last season he did attend all the Albion training sessions.
“Although I was on loan last year I was pretty full-time down here,” he said. “Everything the boys did, I did. They made me feel welcome, which is what I am trying to do with the new boys now.
“I was a new person down here last year and so I know what it feels like.”
Pullinger had to wait until the very last match of last season against Doncaster Knights to earn his first Championship start, although he did start a British & Irish Cup match and made 12 replacement appearances.
However, he hopes in 2015/16 he can become a key member of Dawe’s new-look National One squad.
The former Devonport Services youngster admitted that was another reason why he signed for Albion.
“I wanted to get game-time and signing for Plymouth as a full-time player I think I was going to get that, rather than going out on loan somewhere,” said Pullinger, who helps coach juniors at DHSOB Stonehouse Sharks.
“I got my first Championship start in the last game of last season and I think I held my own and proved a point in that although I am young, I can do the job.”
Pullinger might be only 20, but he has played three seasons of senior rugby, which is more than many of Albion’s new signings.
“It is going to be a young team,” he said. “I class myself as an older player and I’m only 20, which does feel weird.”
But like Pullinger, many of Albion’s young West Country players are keen to prove a point, which he believes can only be good for the club.