National Rugby League’s Anthony Watts inks new deal with Widnes Vikings
On Thursday, October 6, the Co-operative Championship club, Widnes Vikings, have confirmed the signing of Australian player, Anthony Watts. This is their twelfth signing for the next rugby league season and the player has agreed to a one-year deal with the
franchise.
However, the player may have to wait for his visa process to get through before he can join in with Super League for at least a year at Stobart Stadium.
Watts has served the last one year at Sydney Roosters of National Rugby League (NRL) and before that he played for North Queensland Cowboys for three years after he had made his debut in 2007 with Cornulla.
After gathering years of experience at NRL, the player is making a switch to Super League, which is against the trend. Currently many Super League players have been seen moving to Australia to participate in the NRL.
While speaking about the player’s on-field performance, Denis Betts, the head coach of Widnes said, “Anthony already has a proven track record in the NRL and he is now backing himself to achieve the same heights in Super League. At 25, he's still got a lot
of unfulfilled goals and plenty to prove in the game which makes his signing all the more pleasing.”
The player has been recognised in NRL for his brilliant performances, which will strengthen at a level such as Super League which is bigger than that provided by Australia.
There has been a major exodus of players from Super League to join in with the Australian NRL. This migration to the land down under has been pointed out by Danny Buderus of Leeds, who himself is returning to his hometown club, Newcastle Knights, for his
last year in a playing role.
Buderus warned that Rugby Football League (RFL) should take notice of this unexpected outflow of talent from Super League as Australia is on a hiring spree for which they are eying the cream of Super League. The trend has recently amplified because the Gillette
Four Nations Series is approaching fast and the participating countries are recruiting players fast.
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