King to Wigan for 2023

[Desert Skipper]

A year long loan.

Strange this. I thought Matty Peet had a big bee in his bonnet about a certain club taking a Wigan academy product, then he does that very thing in reverse. Nowt as queer as RL folk.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Desert Skipper

[Nate90]

Well we have needed a centre.

I wonder why Wire are reluctant to let him go on a permanent deal? He is on loan at Huddersfield at the moment

[Damien]

I'm not really a fan of taking players on long term loan like this.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Damien

[Jinking Jimmy]

22 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

A year long loan.

Strange this. I thought Matty Peet had a big bee in his bonnet about a certain club taking a Wigan academy product, then he does that very thing in reverse. Nowt as queer as RL folk.

I think King has played slightly more 1st team games for Warrington than Nicholson did for Wigan.

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, Jinking Jimmy said:

I think King has played slightly more 1st team games for Warrington than Nicholson did for Wigan.

It is however the 2nd Wire Academy-developed signing in a few months,  an Academy that he was critical of and slated very publicly. 

 

[EastLondonMike]

A slight upgrade on Bibby. Available centre stocks are pretty low at the moment.

Edited August 23, 2022 by EastLondonMike

[Davo5]

9 minutes ago, Dave T said:

It is however the 2nd Wire Academy-developed signing in a few months,  an Academy that he was critical of and slated very publicly. 

 

That’s some stretching of a point.

[johnh1]

I thought you meant Vuniyiyawa for a minute. Thank heavens for that.

[Dave T]

Just now, Davo5 said:

That’s some stretching of a point.

I mean,  criticising an Academy and then signing two of its products is quite a direct and simple point. 

But tbh,  I don't care,  the only person who seemed to be bothered by this whole episode was Peet. 

Good luck to King,  he was a very good player before Powell took over. I think he could go well at Wigan with their pace attack giving him some space. 

[Davo5]

Probably better than we’ve got but another underwhelming signing,hopefully a replacement for French will be a bit more exciting.

[LeytherRob]

49 minutes ago, Nate90 said:

Well we have needed a centre.

I wonder why Wire are reluctant to let him go on a permanent deal? He is on loan at Huddersfield at the moment

Wire will want him out on a permanent. Issue will be the large wages Toby King is on at Wire which he'll be reluctant to give up and Wigan will likely be paying only a portion of these.

[Jinking Jimmy]

1 hour ago, Desert Skipper said:

A year long loan.

Strange this. I thought Matty Peet had a big bee in his bonnet about a certain club taking a Wigan academy product, then he does that very thing in reverse. Nowt as queer as RL folk.

 

46 minutes ago, Dave T said:

It is however the 2nd Wire Academy-developed signing in a few months,  an Academy that he was critical of and slated very publicly. 

 

When did King last play for the Warrington Academy team?

[Davo5]

9 minutes ago, Jinking Jimmy said:

 

When did King last play for the Warrington Academy team?

I’d guess 2015,the year after they poached him from Huddersfield.

[Dave T]

11 minutes ago, Jinking Jimmy said:

 

When did King last play for the Warrington Academy team?

Did Peet's rant stipulate some form of time period? 

[Jinking Jimmy]

28 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Did Peet's rant stipulate some form of time period? 

You maybe right. I still haven’t got over 31 years old Shaun Edwards signing for London Broncos.

[LeeF]

A pre Powell Toby King is a very good signing for Wigan. Hopefully he can regain his form of previous seasons 

[LeytherRob]

6 minutes ago, LeeF said:

A pre Powell Toby King is a very good signing for Wigan. Hopefully he can regain his form of previous seasons 

This. Find it a bit funny seeing so many Warrington players being written off after a bad year with a coach not getting on with quite a few players leading to disruption. They finished 3rd in 2021 and don't just become bad players overnight. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he absolutely rips it up at Wigan next year

[graveyard johnny]

2 hours ago, johnh1 said:

I thought you meant Vuniyiyawa for a minute. Thank heavens for that.

I thought he meant Wally Lewis !

[Desert Skipper]

13 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

This. Find it a bit funny seeing so many Warrington players being written off after a bad year with a coach not getting on with quite a few players leading to disruption. They finished 3rd in 2021 and don't just become bad players overnight. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he absolutely rips it up at Wigan next year

King was very good for a year and a half after taking a few years to break through. But it’s a misconception that his form dropped when Powell arrived. His form fell off a cliff when he signed a big money contract 18 months earlier. Warrington only have themselves to blame there, of course. He was good but not outstanding. Hull KR was the club he came closest to signing for at the time, not big club rivals Wigan or Saints or Leeds.

King has a certain skill set: He’s excellent in the air, strong running, and has an excellent offload. With a bit more weight and grunt he’d be a good second row. However, Wardle has looked a far better centre in these awful Warrington performances than King, and less responsible for leaking tries.

Regarding my original post, it was a cheeky swipe at Peet’s comments simply because he suggested Warrington can’t produce their own players. Where are the Wigan academy centres that should be keeping Warrington-produced King from getting a loan gig? It doesn’t matter how long he’s been playing, Peet’s rant still doesn’t work.

[LeytherRob]

22 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

King was very good for a year and a half after taking a few years to break through. But it’s a misconception that his form dropped when Powell arrived. His form fell off a cliff when he signed a big money contract 18 months earlier. Warrington only have themselves to blame there, of course. He was good but not outstanding. Hull KR was the club he came closest to signing for at the time, not big club rivals Wigan or Saints or Leeds.

King has a certain skill set: He’s excellent in the air, strong running, and has an excellent offload. With a bit more weight and grunt he’d be a good second row. However, Wardle has looked a far better centre in these awful Warrington performances than King, and less responsible for leaking tries.

Regarding my original post, it was a cheeky swipe at Peet’s comments simply because he suggested Warrington can’t produce their own players. Where are the Wigan academy centres that should be keeping Warrington-produced King from getting a loan gig? It doesn’t matter how long he’s been playing, Peet’s rant still doesn’t work.

Sounds awful, no wonder Wire want rid

[Dave T]

30 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

King was very good for a year and a half after taking a few years to break through. But it’s a misconception that his form dropped when Powell arrived. His form fell off a cliff when he signed a big money contract 18 months earlier. Warrington only have themselves to blame there, of course. He was good but not outstanding. Hull KR was the club he came closest to signing for at the time, not big club rivals Wigan or Saints or Leeds.

King has a certain skill set: He’s excellent in the air, strong running, and has an excellent offload. With a bit more weight and grunt he’d be a good second row. However, Wardle has looked a far better centre in these awful Warrington performances than King, and less responsible for leaking tries.

Regarding my original post, it was a cheeky swipe at Peet’s comments simply because he suggested Warrington can’t produce their own players. Where are the Wigan academy centres that should be keeping Warrington-produced King from getting a loan gig? It doesn’t matter how long he’s been playing, Peet’s rant still doesn’t work.

I think it's a harsh assessment,  I think centres are often onto a loser if the team is not playing well.  I don't think King suddenly started playing badly,  I just think sometimes a change of tactics,  personnel,  form etc affected his output.  I still think he's a good player,  and maybe a fresh start at a strong club will do him some good. 

[meast]

54 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

King was very good for a year and a half after taking a few years to break through. But it’s a misconception that his form dropped when Powell arrived. His form fell off a cliff when he signed a big money contract 18 months earlier. Warrington only have themselves to blame there, of course. He was good but not outstanding. Hull KR was the club he came closest to signing for at the time, not big club rivals Wigan or Saints or Leeds.

King has a certain skill set: He’s excellent in the air, strong running, and has an excellent offload. With a bit more weight and grunt he’d be a good second row. However, Wardle has looked a far better centre in these awful Warrington performances than King, and less responsible for leaking tries.

Regarding my original post, it was a cheeky swipe at Peet’s comments simply because he suggested Warrington can’t produce their own players. Where are the Wigan academy centres that should be keeping Warrington-produced King from getting a loan gig? It doesn’t matter how long he’s been playing, Peet’s rant still doesn’t work.

I'd have Wardle back at Huddersfield, I've said since I first saw him at 16 in the academy that he is a classy player.

Whether he wants to come back and fight for a place is anyone's guess though.

[Desert Skipper]

14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think it's a harsh assessment,  I think centres are often onto a loser if the team is not playing well.  I don't think King suddenly started playing badly,  I just think sometimes a change of tactics,  personnel,  form etc affected his output.  I still think he's a good player,  and maybe a fresh start at a strong club will do him some good. 

It wasn’t meant to be a harsh assessment though Dave. I like King when he’s on form, and we aren’t blessed with many decent centres in this hemisphere.

However, there’s nothing untrue in what I’ve said - his form did drop from excellent to bang average during the Price era, and only after his new contract was signed. It wasn’t coincident with Powell’s arrival, which some seem to suggest. Also, at a young age he never looked like a star centre in the making, when compared to Wrench for example. Better than average player who may do well at Wigan, but not a huge loss IMO. I’d be absolutely gutted if Wigan had snared one of the current academy stars breaking through.

[EagleEyePie]

There seems to be quite a few clubs on the hunt for new centres for 2023 with lots of movement. King is one of those who could be a good player but his form this season with Wire has been pretty horrendous from what I've seen, particularly his defending.

Is it a surprise that it's just a loan? Not really. I doubt Wigan would be willing to buy out his contract given his form, but Wire would probably be wanting to free up the space on the cap to rebuild the squad. Low risk move for Wigan but with Bibby expected to leave and Thornley missing pretty much the entire year through injury we've only got Sam Halsall (the Wigan academy product someone was asking about above) as a recognised centre. I think Sutton and O'Keefe in the academy aren't at the right level yet.

Centre is definitely an area of weakness for Wigan as we can't keep playing Isa and Pearce-Paul there (and Farrell at times, who is still our best performing centre of the last couple of years). Will we get more out of Toby King? I guess it depends. He looked like a future superstar when he was in the Huddersfield academy before Wire poached him.  A few years ago he looked to be heading in the right direction but he should have been an England international now with the talent he has. Hopefully a move to Wigan can be the moment he kicks on, but there's always the risk that he's just one of those players who looks outstanding as a youngster but never really hits the heights they were capable of.

I'm glad Wigan haven't committed long term, as I think it's too much of a risk, but it's also a risk worth taking as we need to improve our centres.

[Nothus]

IF I was a Wigan fan I'd much rather have seen them go for Wardle or Leutele, or both. King isn't a very good centre in the sense that he is terrible at feeding his winger.