Come and get me - former Leeds Rhinos skipper 'available' after Toronto Wolfpack crisis

Watkins signed for Toronto during the coronavirus shutdown, but has yet to make his debut and can look for another club after they withdrew from this year's competition.

The England centre left Rhinos to join NRL club Gold Coast Titans last summer, but returned to England for family reasons.

He was a guest on Sky Sports' coverage of Sunday's Super League matches.

Questioned about his future, Watkins confirmed: "I am contracted with them so officially I am [a Toronto player]."

But he insisted: "I want to be playing and I am looking elsewhere.

"I know the new ownership is trying to come into place, but I just reckon it is going to take a long time for that to come through.

"For me, I just want to get out there and play.

"I am available. Since we found out they weren't going to be playing in the rest of Super League this year, they gave us the opportunity to go look elsewhere, whether it's short-term or long-term."

Of why he returned from Australia, Watkins said: "The NRL was a fantastic experience for me.

"A lot of decisions happened during that time from a family aspect; my dad became ill and before that a lot of things went on from my wife's side as well so we made that decision .

"I did come back to try and see my dad at that time and was hoping to go back to the Gold Coast, but me and my wife had a chat about what we wanted and we felt it was right to come back and look after the family as much as possible."

The move to Toronto reunited Watkins with former Leeds boss Brian McDermott.

"I came into that situation, it was a good opportunity to work with Brian again and I anticipated a really exciting journey," Watkins added.

"Working with Brian would have been great because I felt he got the best out of me at Leeds, but with the pay situation it has been really hard.

"I feel really sorry for the other players and the staff there who haven't been paid.

"A lot of the players haven't been paid since May so it has been very hard for everybody involved, but I am trying to keep as positive as possible."

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Laura Collins