Ian Watson says Huddersfield wanted to keep Toby King

Huddersfield Head Coach Ian Watson has said they wanted to keep centre Toby King at the club next year.

King joined the Giants on loan back in June, in a deal that saw Jake Wardle move the other way. He has since made 10 appearances for the club, scoring three tries.

Earlier this week, it was announced King would join Wigan on a season-long loan for the 2023 season.

Watson said he wanted to keep King at the club, but Warrington were not interested in a permanent deal for the 26-year-old.

He said: “We wanted to keep him. I’ve seen some comments throughout the week, but I don’t know whether there’s been a miscommunication there between Warrington and Daryl (Powell) and stuff like that.

“We wanted Toby King. We wanted to keep him permanently, we didn’t want him on loan anymore. Warrington didn’t want to do that deal. They wanted to basically loan him out for another year and then probably be able to take him back.

“So we told them it’s pointless having a player for a year when we’re working with them and then they end up going back to them kind of a better player. We wanted him with us permanently if they wanted Jake (Wardle).

“They said they didn’t want to do that. So for us, Jake comes back.  Jake’s not staying at Warrington next year and won’t be at Warrington next year, he will be a Huddersfield player unless something else happens on the back end of that.

“So there was no crossed wires from Huddersfield or anybody else. It was either we got Toby King permanently, or Jake Wardle came back.

“They knew that situation and we won’t be changing from that situation as well. Jake went out to get game time because he wasn’t cracking the starting spot here at that time. But we all still like Jake, we think he’s a great bloke, a great part of our squad.”

Daryl Powell unsure about Ian Watson comments

Warrington Head Coach Daryl Powell meanwhile, said he was unaware anything had happened with regards to King and Wardle.

The swap deal saw Wardle move the other way to Warrington, with Watson saying he was expecting Wardle to return to Huddersfield.

When asked for a response about what Watson had said about the pair, he said: “If that’s what it is, it is what it is.

“I honestly don’t know that. But we will see.”

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