Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell inspiring Liam Watts to make England grade

Given that the two-time Challenge Cup winner has enjoyed some of the best form of his career since making the move to Wheldon Road, it stands as a surprise that he has yet to earn an England cap.

He was included in Shaun Wane’s initial 31-man shortlist for the Ashes Test Series with Australia later this year but those games are under threat after the State of Origin was rescheduled for when the NRL season ends, with the Australian campaign due to return on May 28 after being suspended by the coronavirus outbreak.

Watts made an appearance for the England Knights in 2011 during his time at Hull KR when he was coached by Australian Justin Morgan. He joined his home-town club in 2018 from Hull FC and revealed how Powell told him almost immediately that he should be playing for his country.

“Hopefully, I can captain my club, it is a club I have supported all my life, even when I was at Hull KR and Hull FC I kept in touch,” said Watts, who featured for England at the Downer World Cup 9s in Sydney last autumn.

“I have been a bit of an outside supporter looking in and I wanted to be a part the success Powelly was building.

“I knew the credentials that Powelly had and after I met him he told me that I should be playing for England.

“I had rarely heard that before from a coach.

“The only person who I had that with was Justin Morgan, he was really pushing me to get into the squad.”

Castleford sat joint top of Super League when the competition was forced into suspension by the covid-19 coronavirus.

The forward feels that the Tigers ability to always stay in games, even if they fail to play at their maximum for the full 80 minutes, is what has put them in a strong position when a resumption of matches is able to happen.

Watts added: “With us, even if we go 20 points behind we still know we are in it.

“I think one thing we have understood from last year is about staying in games.

“Not playing for the full 80 does bite you. Against Hull KR earlier this year, we had a slow start but we came through the other side and put 28 points on them.

“They did start quick and it has happened a couple of times but we just stuck in there.

“We know at the end of it that we are going to be in with a good chance of winning the game.”

Watts believes that victory over St Helens in their final outing before fixtures were postponed has helped to keep the mood high in the Tigers camp.

Players have been training in isolation with equipment that they have take home from the club gym while the squad have been keeping in touch through group chats and video calls.

Watts has had a squat and bench rack set up to try and keep himself in top shape for when it is safe for the campaign to resume.

“We knew we would be finishing for at least a couple of weeks and we didn’t know how long it would go on for and we are still not playing,” he said.

“If we had got hammered by St Helens, the mood in the camp would still be down now.

“But we finished on a high and everyone has still been pretty pumped, we are all still buzzing.

“The mood in the camp is really good, we are doing activities on face calls and working from home.

“We haven’t stopped, other than training with each other, we are still doing our bits away from the game.”

The Castleford star has been keeping himself occupied with some DIY without matches to look forward to.

“I have just recently moved into a new house so I have been getting all those dreaded jobs done. I have tried to make the garden look the best it can and then doing some general maintenance work inside,” added the former Hull FC man when asked how he was filling his time during lockdown.

“I have been taking the kids on plenty of bike rides – I have never been on the bike as much.

“I am trying to keep them as busy as possible and generally just keeping on with the day.

“Rugby is a big part of my life so it is just about trying to fill your day with something else.”