Kallum Watkins’ come and get me plea to Super League clubs
Former Leeds captain Kallum Watkins has been given permission to speak to other Super League clubs, in the wake of Toronto Wolfpack’s ongoing problems.
Watkins, 29, only signed for the Wolfpack from NRL side Gold Coast Titans back in May, but was left in limbo when the Canadians withdrew from the remainder of the Super League season.
It left the England international centre particularly frustrated, as he had turned down other offers to sign a three-year deal with Toronto, whose future still remains uncertain.
He said: “I’m contracted with them, but I came in to that situation it was a good opportunity for me to work with Brian again at Toronto. I anticipated a really exciting journey that I could go on, working with Brian would have been great as well as I felt he got the best out of me at Leeds.
“The pay situation has been really hard, and I feel really sorry for the other players and staff.
“A lot of players haven’t been paid since May so it’s been really hard for everybody involved, for me it’s been really tough, but I look in the perspective of society and what COVID has done for businesses and for people outside of rugby league. There’s a lot of people who are a lot worse off than I am, so I try to keep positive as much as possible.
“Hopefully at some point something might happen in terms of the takeover or the possibility of moving on.
“I want to be playing and to be fair, I am looking elsewhere. I know the new ownership is trying to come in to place, but I reckon that will take a long time to come through and for me, I want to get out and play.
“I am available. I have been available since we found out we weren’t going to play in Super League, they gave us the opportunity to look elsewhere, whether it be short term or long term.”
Watkins scored 132 tries in 256 appearances for Leeds, before leaving to join Gold Coast in 2019 – making a total of eight appearances.
He was allowed to return to the UK back in April to be with his sick father.