New signing Tom Eaves out to make the most of his second chance at Rotherham United

The 30-year-old striker from Hull City knows the AESSEAL New York Stadium well, having spent a few months on loan here from Bolton Wanderers in the autumn of 2013.

After joining the Millers on a three-year deal, Eaves said: "I'm a different animal now in my mentality and physically since last time I was here. I'm more powerful than I was then. I think I'm just a better player in general.

"Back then Kari Arnason, Craig Morgan, Ben Pringle, Lee Frecklington and Daniel Nardiello were around and the club got promoted that year.

"In my defence, I think I started one game and then had one game in the cup. The other six appearances were as a sub for less than 20 minutes so I don't think Millers fans have really seen the best of me anyway with regards to that."

Since his first spell at Rotherham, Eaves has turned out for Shrewsbury, Yeovil and Bury before finding his scoring touch at Gillingham, where he netted 40 times in a two-year period.

That earned him a move to Hull, where he made 108 appearances, scoring 18 goals and clocking up nine assists.

The Tigers opted against activating the year option on his contract, allowing Rotherham to move in and complete the deal in the wake of the much-publicised departure of top scorer Michael Smith to Sheffield Wednesday. Eaves joins another new striker at the NYS in former Charlton man Conor Washington.

Eaves added: "Paul Warne was one of the managers interested. I asked him how he wanted to play and he felt I would fit into his team stylistically. It was a really good conversation that we had and thankfully it's come to fruition that I'm here and a Rotherham player."

Warne said: "I tried to sign Tom in the last two transfer windows. I desperately tried to get him last summer but he didn't want to drop to League One. He wanted to play in the Championship as long as he could and fair play to him.

"I do like playing with a proper no.9 and Tom is as near as damn it as close to Smudge as we can get.

"He is mobile, he's a lot fitter than he used to be and he can get goals at this level, as he's done again this year for Hull."

Eaves becomes Rotherham's second signing in less than 24 hours, wing-back Peter Kioso having arrived from Luton Town for an undisclosed fee yesterday.