Michael Monaghan might have travelled all the way to the north of England, but reminders of last season's NRL grand final defeat are never far away.

Matt King joined Monaghan at Warrington in the off-season, and the former Melbourne winger has taken the opportunity to show Monaghan and his former Manly teammate Chris Hicks his 2007 premiership tattoo. Just in case the Sea Eagles duo were curious.

"It's on his ribs and it looks pretty impressive," Monaghan said. "He's pretty good about it. But the other England boys are always encouraging him to pull his shirt up and show us the tattoo to give it to me and Hicksy."

Body art hasn't been Monaghan's only cue to think back to the NRL. With the season kick-off approaching, the 27-year-old has spent plenty of time pondering how his former Manly teammates - most notably Matt Orford and Jamie Lyon - will adjust their attacking game in his absence this year.

Monaghan noted with interest the comments of Lyon earlier this week, when he told the Herald, "[Monaghan] would play like he had glue on his hands some days. He's an awesome player - but he liked to go himself a fair bit. Hopefully, [Orford] and I might see a bit more ball."

"They used to throw those jokes around last year as well," Monaghan said wryly. "They'll be playing a different style of footy this season, I'd reckon. It will be interesting to see how the new hooker fits in with their plans. The Eagles are looking good this year. Anything less than a grand final appearance - or at least a top-four finish - would probably be disappointing for them. I hope they go one better this year.

"I'll definitely be keeping up with the footy back home from here. My brother [Joel] is still playing [at the Raiders], so I'll be keeping an eye on him as well. I speak with the boys at home fairly regularly, so it's going to be interesting keeping track of everything from this kind of distance."

Having dealt with the sting of his departure from the Sea Eagles, Monaghan has quickly established himself among the best halfbacks in the Super League. His Warrington side, which has not won a league championship trophy in more than half a century, is third on the ladder, due in no small part to the influence of their new No.7, and other southern hemisphere signings: King, Hicks and Louis Anderson.

"The big thing for me is that I'm back to halfback, which was the reason behind me moving to England," Monaghan said. "There's probably not as much focus on defence here as back home, so it makes the attacking side of the game pretty enjoyable.

"Probably the big things for Australians coming over here is that ability to learn a few different things and to get away from the pressure of the NRL - that weekly grind and all the media attention. I had always wanted to head to England. Maybe that was brought forward a bit by the circumstances of my release from Manly, which only left me with a couple of weeks to find a club for this season. Because of that, the options were pretty limited and England was the best move.

"I try not to let those kinds of things worry me. Last season was probably the most enjoyable I ever had. I've still got a lot of good mates there. It's definitely helped with guys likes 'Hicksy' and 'Kingy' signing. I was the first to sign, and it probably was a little daunting at first. But when the others joined as well, that made the move seem a lot easier."