2023 was an uncertain time for a number of Castleford Tigers players.
In what was a dreadful season for the Super League club – in which they finished second bottom with just six wins from 27 games – there was an exodus at the end of it.
Tigers veterans Nathan Massey, Adam Milner and Greg Eden all departed The Jungle – and Liam Watts could have been another had he taken up an opportunity that would have seen him live far away from his hometown of Castleford.
“I could have left, there were couple of positions in the pipeline but I travelled for ten years to Hull FC and Hull KR when I was there,” Watts told League Express.
“I did ten years on the road, but I’ve come back home and it only takes two minutes to get to training! It became pretty obvious pretty pretty quickly that I would have to move further away than I anticipated with the clubs that were interested.
“I chose to stay here and it was a personal choice for me to stay in order to right a few wrongs from last year. I don’t think I would have been happy to leave Castleford in the state it was in last year on the field.
“It was more this year I wanted to put us in a better place and if that happens then I can walk away happy knowing that I’ve left it in a better state than it was last year.”
So which clubs were interested in Watts before he signed a new deal at Castleford? Well the interest went as far as Australia.
“There were a few feeder clubs in Australia that I was in contact with to work and play. I was looking at that potentially as well as a few Championship clubs at the same time.
“They were asking me to move but we never really got into the finer details of things as I wasn’t ready to pursue it at the time.
“There was the Toulouse one, that was an option if they made it into Super League and Featherstone too if they got promoted, they were interested.
“It was all ifs, buts and maybes. I hadn’t made a decision until I knew what was happening with Cas first and foremost.”
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