Wigan Warriors completed a deal yesterday for Tim Smith, 23, who was suspended by Parramatta Eels after allegations of drunken behaviour and was released from his contract in April having been diagnosed as suffering from the manic depressive condition known as bipolar disorder. He will join the Warriors for the remainder of this year and the 2009 season.

“I am grateful for the Warriors for giving me the opportunity to relaunch my playing career,” Smith, the 2005 NRL young player of the year, said. “My aim is to impress the management, coaching staff and fans and to win something with Wigan. My personal problems have been well documented, but they are now behind me and I want to concentrate only on playing.”

Smith has wanted to escape the intense media scrutiny in Sydney that followed several well-publicised incidents involving alcohol. The former Australia Schoolboys player believes that he can resurrect a career in the British game's less pressured environment off the field, while Wigan see his early arrival at the JJB Stadium as smoothing the way for him to take over at stand-off from Trent Barrett when the former Kangaroos player leaves to play for Cronulla Sharks in Australia at the end of the season.

Ian Lenagan, the Wigan chairman, whose signing of Smith follows those recently of Cameron Phelps, from Canterbury Bulldogs, and Mark Riddell, Smith's former Parramatta team-mate who will be joining the club next season, said: “We acknowledge some risks, reflected in the contract, in signing Tim after his early-season illness difficulties, but he now feels ready to relaunch his career away from the Sydney media pressure.

“We believe the supportive and professional environment at the Wigan club is ideal to help him achieve this. He is a young player of outstanding talents, who can add a new dimension to our attacking options and we look forward to seeing him in action with Wigan in the near future.”

Chris Feather, the Bradford Bulls prop, is expected to make his comeback against St Helens in the engage Super League on Friday, two months after a neck injury that was later diagnosed as a split in his carotid artery. This prevented blood reaching his brain and caused a “mini-stroke”.

“The doctor said there was nothing I could do,” Feather said. “I just had to take aspirin to thin my blood. For about three weeks I had headaches. But in the last two or three weeks I have felt much better.”