Kallum Watkins to Return to Super League? (Merged Threads)

[Mr Plow]

9 hours ago, goldcoaster said:

Nobody is criticising him for going home - why not, there is no NRL and clearly it is terrible situation for his father and his family. 

But to quit his contract altogether after just 8 matches is pathetic. Why not just take a break, go home and return to the Titans when the season is ready to start again.

Family comes first. I suspect a lot of people would rather move home than be the other side of the world when something like this happens and it makes you realise what’s important in life.

[Toby Chopra]

5 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

A salary cap is impossible this season, and almost certainly next season. 

This should really force us to reassess the flawed method of restricting squad building based on the amorphous concept of financial value. 

Salary caps are also about competitive parity, which other leagues show is a really valuable commodity. 

But when half the clubs in Superleague can't even pay up to the existing low cap, then that point is out of the window anyway.

[goldcoaster]

1 hour ago, Mr Plow said:

Family comes first. I suspect a lot of people would rather move home than be the other side of the world when something like this happens and it makes you realise what’s important in life.

Except he apparently is not moving home, he is moving to Canada to sign with the Wolfpack. Compassionate grounds my a***

[Toby Chopra]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

Competitive parity is a noble aim but the SC has been a poor tool to achieve and should it be successful in doing so does it in a bad way.

It's not about noble aims, it's about understanding that in top level sport, the product is the competition, not the individual teams. The NFL and NBA for instance understand this very well, and they're hardly unambitious. But they both do this with levels of revenue sharing that European sports leagues are incapable of contemplating. The American leagues are, of course, closed shops, which permits this level of mutual aid. 

What Superleague has long needed is to boost its weaker teams to the level of its stronger ones to broaden the appeal of the competition as a whole. (It should not, to be clear, do the opposite which is cut the top teams down to the level of the weaker ones.) 

It seems fanciful under current circumstances but if SL was able to secure more income, it should be directed toward lifting the salary spend of the poorer teams toward the cap, not raising the cap as a whole. This would broaden the competition, making it more valuable, which all teams then benefit from. 

[Toby Chopra]

42 minutes ago, goldcoaster said:

Except he apparently is not moving home, he is moving to Canada to sign with the Wolfpack. Compassionate grounds my a***

Wolfpack are based for the foreseeable future in Greater Manchester, not Canada. They fly in and out of Toronto for games. 

[Blind side johnny]

1 hour ago, goldcoaster said:

Except he apparently is not moving home, he is moving to Canada to sign with the Wolfpack. Compassionate grounds my a***

Learn to read and buy an atlas.

[Chrispmartha]

1 hour ago, goldcoaster said:

Except he apparently is not moving home, he is moving to Canada to sign with the Wolfpack. Compassionate grounds my a***

Oh dear.

Toronto are based in Manchester, which is where Kallum is from.

[Mr Plow]

9 hours ago, goldcoaster said:

Except he apparently is not moving home, he is moving to Canada to sign with the Wolfpack. Compassionate grounds my a***

The Wolfpack who are based in Manchester where he is from and is family are. The bloke needs to earn money

[ghost crayfish]

Shame for Watkins as he was looking really good to start the year. Whether he would've been able to really star in such a poor side is another question... In any event, the short NRL stint may have helped him to get his body right and hunger back, so whenever he returns to the field with Toronto you'd have to expect he'll go well.

[Hela Wigmen]

So, the illness that his dad has got is the ‘excuse’, for want of a better word, for him to return home to be closer to family? If only someone would have said that a day or two ago...

[Col81]

I watched him in his final few games for leeds he looked shot so slow I thought he was finished. Holbrook probably made up he has gone. 

On that note I'm surprised Holbrook hadn't moved for some of the saints players for gold coast

[Chrispmartha]

12 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

So, the illness that his dad has got is the ‘excuse’, for want of a better word, for him to return home to be closer to family? If only someone would have said that a day or two ago...

There is a better word and it's 'reason'.

 

[Kayakman]

12 hours ago, ghost crayfish said:

Shame for Watkins as he was looking really good to start the year. Whether he would've been able to really star in such a poor side is another question... In any event, the short NRL stint may have helped him to get his body right and hunger back, so whenever he returns to the field with Toronto you'd have to expect he'll go well.

Wow!  Is Toronto ever strong in the centers now.   I think it is a great signing, now for the forwards, we need a couple of big strong runners and we are set!

[ghost crayfish]

57 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

Wow!  Is Toronto ever strong in the centers now.   I think it is a great signing, now for the forwards, we need a couple of big strong runners and we are set!

A combination of SBW and Kallum Watkins on the right edge will certainly cause problems if they can get their go forward and playmaking right in the middle.

[Allora]

1 hour ago, Kayakman said:

Wow!  Is Toronto ever strong in the centers now.   I think it is a great signing, now for the forwards, we need a couple of big strong runners and we are set!

He looked like he had lost a lot of weight at the Titans, he had a build of the Fox without the pace.

Regardless of what others have said on here about his form at the start of this season, he seemed like he was not chasing the ball or looking to get overly involved for a seasoned Test centre unless the ball came his way.

He should have been a go to man to make something happen.

His defence was on par with a Turnstile in most cases.

[Allora]

21 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

A combination of SBW and Kallum Watkins on the right edge will certainly cause problems if they can get their go forward and playmaking right in the middle.

Gordon Tallis was in the media today saying $BW had his Cue in the rack and was just collecting a pension from what he had seen so far this year.

I tend to agree, his time as a top player is passed on a regular basis.

 

Which game did he dominate or do more positive than negative Hullfan?

[Hullfan]

8 minutes ago, Allora said:

Gordon Tallis was in the media today saying $BW had his Cue in the rack and was just collecting a pension from what he had seen so far this year.

I tend to agree, his time as a top player is passed on a regular basis.

Sonny Bill Williams has been TW best player by far, because he's on a different wave length to the rest of the tripe he's playing alongside he doesn't look outstanding. If you have played the game before you'd understand it

[Allora]

10 hours ago, Hullfan said:

Sonny Bill Williams has been TW best player by far, because he's on a different wave length to the rest of the tripe he's playing alongside he doesn't look outstanding. If you have played the game before you'd understand it

I did play the game for many years.

If he is that good he should realise he signed for a bunch of average Players for obscene money and stop forcing offloads and crazy passes.

Don’t you agree?

[Hullfan]

3 hours ago, Allora said:

I did play the game for many years.

If he is that good he should realise he signed for a bunch of average P*llocks for obscene money and stop forcing offloads and crazy passes.

Don’t you agree?

No i don't agree, he's trying to create things by offloading the ball. Don't you agree,? 

[ATLANTISMAN]

16 minutes ago, Hullfan said:

No i don't agree, he's trying to create things by offloading the ball. Don't you agree,? 

Totally agree he looks on a different level to the rest of the team at the end of the day SBW didn't ask TR to offer him the contract.

GOOD LUCK to him I say.

 

P 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 18/04/2020 at 12:26, Hela Wigmen said:

Sounds like this is his ‘excuse’, the straw that broke the camel’s back perhaps, to return home

His career has gone down the pan a bit since his injuries, which is a shame, as he was one of England’s best for a long time. 

Have to say I think if any club sign him on big money they are mad..... Clearly injuries adding up

[Kayakman]

4 hours ago, ghost crayfish said:

A combination of SBW and Kallum Watkins on the right edge will certainly cause problems if they can get their go forward and playmaking right in the middle.

I don't know if they will move SB from the forwards though.

[Dunbar]

Obviously very difficult circumstances for Watkins and I wish him and his family well.

On a purely rugby front I am disappointed that his spell in Australia was cut short as I thought he looked really sharp in pre-season and the first couple of NRL rounds.

As for somebody saying he wasn't getting involved enough.  He stood 7th in carries for centres (out of 34 players) after the first couple of rounds and second in carries for the Titans overall so I don't think there is any evidence of him not looking to get involved as suggested... as usual it is just a prejudice not backed up by any evidence.

[Davo5]

https://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/news/nrl-coronavirus-gold-coast-titans-kallum-watkins-released-rugby-league-2020-season/1ajaewr6sfnvc1vlajbsxa4pp6

[graveyard johnny]

sbw and Watkins at twp- just need to find out what jamal idris is up to next