'Miles on the clock' but prop Waller can't wait for another season with Saints

While the 33-year-old admits he has 'plenty of miles on the clock', he still feels he has plenty to give in black, green and gold.

And while he is enjoying the pre-season fitness tests as little as ever, his enthusiasm for life at Saints continues to shine through.

"Training's been good so far," Waller said. "It's my 15th pre-season now so it's certainly something I'm used to!

"The new lads are settling in well.

"Obviously it's a bit of a longer pre-season because of the World Cup so we've got a bit of time to specialise and work on certain aspects with the S&C (strength and conditioning) department.

"It's been enjoyable so far and we've got a long way ahead of us before we start playing any games so there's a lot of work to be done."

As for his own body, following 353 Saints appearances to date, Waller said: "I'm feeling pretty strong, pretty good and I'm looking forward to the season and cracking on.

"Hopefully we can go a couple of steps further than last year."

Waller will once again be competing with his brother, Ethan, for starts, while there are two talented youngsters also vying for the No.1 shirt.

Manny Iyogun is on his way back from an Achilles injury, while Tarek Haffar has been a welcome addition after he was left out of work by London Irish going into administration.

"It's pretty unfortunate with the whole of the London Irish situation that was going on but we're pretty happy to be able to add Tarek to our stable of looseheads," Waller said.

"He's quite a talent, he's settling in well along with the other boys have come in.

"That kind of competition only drives standards and that's what we need in the club so we're happy to have Tarek here.

"I've not seen him play a lot because I wasn't playing when we played London Irish in the Prem Cup but I've watched him train and he is pretty exciting!"

And on Iyogun, Waller said: "He's been really good (during his recovery).

"I just chuck a little bit of advice his way now and again having experienced the same injury not so long ago.

"The physios are really firing him along and he seems to be flying.

"He's on track, he's not fallen behind and he's bigger than Christmas at the moment because he's been in that gym and he's put some size on up top so he's looking strong.

"It will be interesting to see how he is when he comes back but I'm full of confidence that he'll bounce back because he's young and he's had the best help around him that he could possibly have.

"It should just be a little blip in his career and he'll soon be back on track."

Waller made 23 appearances last season as Saints finished in the top four for the second season in succession.

And he also had the honour of playing for the Barbarians at Twickenham in May.

“It was one of the best weeks of my career, outside of winning trophies and stuff,” Waller said.

“It was amazing to pull on that shirt and it is everything it's hyped up to be off the pitch.

“You make friends you wouldn't have interacted with otherwise, you meet people from all over the world and you come together for a week and form a team pretty sharpish.

“It was really good and something I'll treasure for a long time.

“Being involved in one of Alun Wyn Jones' last games before he retired from international rugby was pretty special to be part of.

“I made some good friends and hopefully I can do it again in the future, but if not I can tick that box.”