Gold Coast Titans say there are no hard feelings after England international Kallum Watkins left the NRL club due to a family illness, only to sign with UK Super League outfit Toronto.
Watkins has reportedly inked a deal until the end of 2023 after reuniting with his former Leeds coach, Wolfpack mentor Brian McDermott.
The centre was quickly linked to Toronto, which trains near Watkins’ hometown of Manchester, after receiving an immediate Titans release last week to fly back to the UK and be with his father who has contracted coronavirus.
The Titans said they had no problem with Watkins signing a contract with Toronto after his frustrating NRL stint.
Watkins arrived at the Titans in mid-2019 but played just eight games as he tried to bounce back to his best following a knee reconstruction.
“There were a number of family issues which required the (Watkins) family to be back in the UK where the Toronto team is based for much of the time,” a Titans spokesperson told AAP.
“It was disappointing though as Kal had never done a full pre-season with the Titans.
“He had trained hard and was building for a good season.”
Watkins will look to bounce back to his best under McDermott following their stunning success together at Leeds.
Watkins enjoyed a golden run under McDermott at the Rhinos, rising to the ranks of club captain while winning four Super League grand finals, two Challenge Cups, a League Leaders’ Shield and a World Club Challenge.
“We’re just going through a bit of red tape with the RFL to be able to register him but yeah, he’s signed,” McDermott told The Canadian Press.
“What I saw in that time (at Leeds) was a pretty shy, pretty introverted guy then develop into a pretty strong leader with conviction who had a fair amount of presence.”
Watkins, 29, has agreed to terms under Toronto’s new wage structure after players agreed to take pay cuts due to the pandemic which has forced the Super League competition to be indefinitely shut down.
“We’re very fortunate Kallum chose us,” McDermott said.
“I think by Kallum’s own admission the last, I suppose, two seasons haven’t been his best.
“But there’s some real solid reasons why he wasn’t able to be his best — the (knee) injury being part of it, the adversity of leaving the Rhinos and going to the Titans mid-season had another part to play.”
