EX-St Helens man Jon Wilkin believes that the World Cup was ‘too ambitious’ and has joked about a ‘sinister’ plot against Australia.
The BBC pundit has been known for his outspoken views in recent weeks and has ruffled a few more feathers with his view that the tournament got a number of things wrong.
“It was ambitious was the tournament, wasn’t it?” Wilkin said on the BBC 5 Live Rugby League World Cup podcast. “It was probably too ambitious in some ways but I loved that I felt that our sport was finally ambitious in different directions.
“I feel like it has been a bit stagnant, a bit samey, he has gone and done something that is so un-northern, so un-British mentality. He said ‘we’re going to do things really different’ and they got some things wrong and some things right. The ambition and the intent of it was the star for me.”
Owning a coffee house in the centre of Manchester named Pot Kettle Black, Wilkin served a number of the Australia stars on a regular basis and joked about potentially doctoring their drinks.
“I was thinking, ‘Is there anything I could slip into their drinks?’ That’s how sinister my mind was,” he added.