LIAM WATTS has rejected suggestions from his former coach Danny McGuire that he would not be training at his new club Hull FC.
The veteran prop rejoined Hull at the beginning of March, shortly after being released by McGuire’s Castleford Tigers.
And he added: “If a club throws money at you and says you don’t have to train then I can understand why he has taken that opportunity at Hull.”
However, after making his second debut on Friday against Wakefield – he previously played for Hull between 2012 and 2018, winning two Challenge Cups – Watts knocked back both claims and said he had indeed been looking at a Championship move before an approach from the Black and Whites.
“You can ask the boys, I haven’t missed a session,” said the 34-year-old.
“That was never the case down at Cas either, I did all of pre-season. I tried my best to reach the standards Magsy wanted.
“I’m coming towards the back end of my career and we just had a good honest chat and I thought that’s where it would be left.
“The stuff he put out there, I don’t think it was a dig personally because we had a good chat and there was no animosity between us.
“But rugby is rugby. You have to do what’s best for you. I thought at that moment in time the best thing to do was to explore other opportunities and the club allowed that.
“I was genuinely looking at a Championship club. I was going to take a couple of weeks out of the game to weigh my options up, I was speaking to a few clubs and I didn’t want to rush into the next thing.
“As soon as the news came out that I was leaving Cas, Richie (Myler, Hull director of rugby) reached out to me and the deal they offered me was just to come, see how it goes and enjoy yourself.
“Financially it’s not mega cash, I can assure you of that. It was more for me to get in a good place mentally.
“I’ve had a lot of stuff going on off the field, losing my mum and a few other things. I needed that change of scenery and the last couple of weeks have really brought home to me that I still love playing the game.”
Watts has signed a contract until the end of the season and admitted that it is “probably my last year in Super League”.
He also accepts that he is unlikely to be playing every week, but is excited to have a different role within the squad.
“I know what my job role is. They want me to mentor the young lads,” said the prop.
“I played for the reserves last week against Hull KR and the young lads loved it.
“Because of the stuff that I’ve done before (with the club), they wanted me to come in and drive those standards.
“I might be at the wrong end of the (age) scale but I’m going to try my absolute best to drive that where I can, like I did at Castleford.”
