Kallum Watkins

Kallum Watkins
Personal information
Born (1991-03-12) 12 March 1991
Manchester, England, UK
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1]
Weight 15 st 10 lb (100 kg)[1]
Playing information
Position Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007– Leeds Rhinos 191 110 4 0 448
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2012–16 England 19 9 0 0 36
As of 2 December 2016
Source: [2]

Kallum Watkins (Born 12 March 1991 in Manchester to Jamaican mother and English father, England) is an English professional rugby league footballer for Leeds of Super League. He can play as a centre, winger or fullback. Watkins has earned representative honours for the England Under 17s team against the AIS and in 2012 made the full England team scoring 4 tries in 3 starts at centre in the autumn international series.

Early days

Watkins began his rugby league career at his local club Folly Lane (Pendlebury) before moving on to Salford Junior Academy. In 2007, after impressing in a trial at Leeds he signed a junior contract with the club.[3]

Leeds

2007: Leeds Academy & England Under 17s

Kallum joined Leeds in 2007, having impressed during a trial period. In that first season with the Junior Academy he scored 13 tries in 20 appearances as they headed for Grand Final glory, where he scored the opening try in Leeds 26-16 win over St Helens and earned himself a place in the England U17 squad to play the AIS. Kallum made his debut for England U17s against the Australian Institute of Sport as a substitute in the first test at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium. England were unlucky losers that night, 28-26, having led for the majority of the game however a week later Kallum, helped the young Lions restore pride with a 38-22 win at Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue [3][3]

2008: First grade debut

He began 2008 in spectacular form for the Academy, scoring 11 tries in the opening five games of the season, including a hattrick against Hull Kingston Rovers in the first game of the season & four tries a week later against Castleford. His form saw him promoted to the Leeds first Grade squad in April 2008 at just sixteen years of age. He made his debut against the then Celtic Crusaders in the Challenge Cup, scoring a try. He went on to make 4 further appearances in 2008 scoring 2 further tries, most notably against Bradford at the Millennium Magic weekend.[3]

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Celtic Crusaders Cup 18/04/08 1 – – 4
Hull Kingston Rovers SL 25/04/08 - - – -
Bradford SL 03/05/08 1 – – 4
Quins RL Cup 11/05/08 - – - -
Wigan SL 22/08/08 1 - - 4
Total 5 3 - - 12

[3]

2009: More game time

In 2009, Watkins became a more regular name on the Leeds team sheet. He made 13 appearances in all scoring 4 tries, including a spectacular length of the field interception try late on to beat Huddersfield at Headingley 20-12.[4]

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Celtic Crusaders SL 06/02/09 - - - -
Wakefield Trinity SL 13/02/09 - - – -
Hull Kingston Rovers SL 20/02/09 1 – – 4
Manly Sea Eagles WCC 01/03/09 - – - -
Warrington SL 08/03/09 - - - -
Wigan SL 13/03/09 - - - -
Catalans Dragons SL 27/03/09 - - – -
Bradford SL 10/04/2009 - – – -
Quins RL SL 24/04/09 - – - -
Huddersfield SL 14/06/09 2 - - 8
Quins RL SL 20/06/09 - – - -
Hull Kingston Rovers SL 17/07/09 - - - -
Celtic Crusaders SL 22/08/09 - - – -
Salford SL 20/02/09 1 – – 4
Total 14 4 - - 16

[3]

2010: Knee reconstruction

2010 started with so much promise for the 18-year-old Watkins, starting in the Leeds first 6 games which included an appearance on the wing in the World Club Challenge defeat by the Melbourne Storm. Watkins started at centre, winger and fullback in the 6 game stretch due to injuries to team mates however, on 14 March he injured his knee in the 26-20 defeat by Huddersfield and had to have a knee reconstruction. Watkins did not play again that season.[5]

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Celtic Crusaders SL 29/01/10 - – – -
Wakefield Trinity SL 14/02/10 - - – -
Salford SL 19/02/10 - – – -
Melbourne Storm WCC 28/02/10 - – - -
Quins RL SL 05/03/10 1 - - 4
Huddersfield SL 14/03/10 - – – -
Total 6 1 - - 4

[3]

2011: Another bad injury

At the start of the 2011 season he was mainly used on the wing scoring 9 tries in 8 games including 4 against Wakefield Trinity. On 29 April 2011, while playing against Castleford in Leeds' 48-6 win, Watkins injured the ligaments in his wrist which saw him miss the next 12 weeks.[6] Later that year he played at centre for Leeds in the 2011 Challenge Cup final which was lost to Wigan.

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Bradford SL 13/02/11 - - - -
Hull SL 18/02/11 - - – -
Quins RL SL 25/02/11 - – – -
Warrington SL 05/03/11 1 – - 4
Salford SL 11/03/11 1 - - 4
St Helens SL 19/03/11 - - - -
Wakefield Trinity SL 27/03/11 4 - – 16
Wigan SL 01/04/11 - – – -
Hull Kingston Rovers SL 09/04/11 2 – - 4
Huddersfield SL 15/04/11 - - - -
Bradford SL 21/04/11 - - - -
Castleford SL 29/04/11 1 - – 4
Salford SL 29/07/11 - – – -
Castleford Cup 07/08/11 1 - - 4
Castleford SL 12/08/11 1 - – 4
Quins RL SL 20/08/11 - – – -
Wigan Cup 27/08/11 - – – -
Total 17 11 - - 44

[3]

2012: future secured

Watkins was given a boost after 2 injury-ravaged seasons when he was handed the Number 3 Jersey by the Leeds Head Coach Brian McDermott. This signalled the intent that the coach sees him as the long term right centre at Leeds. Kallum also signed a new 5-year contract on 26 January, keeping him at Leeds until 2017 at the earliest [7]

Watkins scored the opening try in Leeds' 26–12 2012 World Club Challenge win over National Rugby League premiers Manly Sea Eagles on 17 February at Headingly.

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Hull Kingston Rovers SL 03/02/12 3 - - 12
Manly Sea Eagles WCC 18/02/12 1 - - 4
Widnes SL 27/02/12 1 - - 4
Castleford SL 02/03/12 1 - - 4
Warrington SL 09/03/12 1 - - 4
Salford SL 16/03/12 1 - - 4
Total 6 7 - - 28

[3]

Representative career

2012

Kallum made his International debut for England in the 2012 Autumn International Series. He scored a try on debut against Wales. He went on to score a total try tally of 4 tries in England's 3 tournament matches.

2013

In October and November, Kallum played for England in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. He played in all 5 of England's matches, scoring two tries.

2014

In October, England traveled down under to play in the Four Nations. Kallum scored two tries in England's 3 tournament matches.

2015

In October Kallum was named in England's 24-man squad for their test-series against New Zealand.[8] Before the series began England took on France in a test match at Leigh. Kallum scored his 9th career try in England's rout of their opponents.[9]

2016

In October, Kallum was named in England's 24-man squad for the 2016 Four Nations. Before the tournament began, Kallum played in England's test match against France.

Stats

Team by team

Team Games Tries Goals F/G Points
Bradford 4 1 - - 4
Castleford 4 4 - - 16
Catalans Dragons 1 - - – –
Celtic Crusaders 4 1 - – 4
Huddersfield 3 2 - – 8
Hull 1 - - - -
Hull Kingston Rovers 5 6 - - 24
London Broncos 6 1 - - 4
Manly Sea Eagles 2 1 - – 4
Melbourne Storm 1 0 - – -
Salford 5 3 - – 12
St Helens 1 - - – -
Wakefield Trinity 3 4 - – 16
Warrington 3 2 - – 8
Widnes 1 1 - – 4
Wigan 4 1 - – 4
Total 48 27 - - 108

[3]

By competition

Competition Games Tries Goals F/G Points
Super League 38 18 - – 76
Challenge Cup 4 2 - – 8
World Club Challenge 3 1 - – 4
Play Offs - - - – -
Total 45 24 - - 96

[3]

Honours

Grand Final: 5

2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015

League Leaders Shield: 2

2009, 2015

Challenge Cup: 2

2014, 2015

World Club Challenge: 1

2012

References

  1. 1 2 "Kallum Watkins Leeds Rhinos". Superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Kallum Watkins - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 https://web.archive.org/web/20110809125615/http://www.therhinos.co.uk/rugby/players/first_team.php?player=81958&includeref=dynamic. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Archived 8 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Kallum Watkins out for 12 weeks - Leeds Rhinos Rugby League News". Superleaguefans.com. 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  7. ↑ "New five year deal for Watkins". Loverugbyleague.com. 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  8. ↑ "MCNAMARA NAMES 24-MAN SQUAD FOR 2015 INTERNATIONAL SERIES". englandrl.co.uk. 2015-10-11. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  9. ↑ "England demolish France 84-4 in record win". Skysports.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.