Workington Town prop forward Marc Shackley has thanked the club's fans after being named Player of the Year for 2015.

Shackley picked up the Player of the Year honour at the awards night after receiving 33 per cent of the vote.

The prop is currently recovering from micro-fracture surgery on his knee but says he can’t wait to return to training with his team-mates.

“It’s nice to get recognised with an award like this,” Shackley said.

“But it’s all about the team. It’s a team game and we all put the work in together.”

Town’s pre-season training started last week and, although Shackley is recovering from injury, the prop says it’s good to be back.

“It’s difficult having to be on your own doing rehab, but it’s good to get back into a routine,” he continued.

“I’ll be doing some walking off my crutches this weekend with Nigel [Douglas] and Murph [Chris Murphy] and then I’ll be doing bodyweight workouts to get my strength back.”

Town announced the signing of prop forward Ryan Verlinden last week and Shackley is looking forward to the challenge of further competition in the front row.

“I’ve seen some highlights of him and he looks like a good player, he played well against us when Doncaster visited us earlier in the season.

“It’s easy to forget we’ve also got Dan [Rooney] and Latu [Fifita] coming back from injury so there’s a lot of competition there.

“But it’ll make us better as players and I’m sure I’ll learn a few things from Ryan.

“He’s played at a good standard in Australia.”