A real shame as he's a great player, one of the best props in the league on his day. The flip side is that he can easily cost you a game by giving a daft penalty away or throwing an impossible pass.
I'll Just have to trust the club on this. If someone like Gaz Ellis has been involved in the decision making process, that's good enough for me.
Years ago we only got rid of problem players when they were of no use to us (I.e. Hutch Maiva). This makes a real statement though.
We are now weaker in that dept. though. I know LR has been an admirer of Mossop in the past, but I d rather we went for a line breaking player in the Fifita mould. Easier said than done though.

Mulhearn?

His last move gave him that

Big loss on the field as he is a maverick prop with a good pass and step and almost impossible to replace from that angle.

However, off it we will regain some much needed credibility because he's such a daft lad at times. He's been in trouble internally on several occasions in the last year. Oh and as someone said to me this afternoon, can anyone honestly say the way he massaged that players head with his against Warrington at that point in a game was not the actions of a daft lad? He;s done that sort of stuff so often he ain't gonna change now.

That said, I'll miss him he was a good player, I'll remember him charging in for that last try in the semi against Leeds for a long tume he's certainly a character and we've all shared some magical moments with him that will live forever for us all however it was always going to happen sooner or later he brought it on himself. Believe me he didn't want to leave, but the club and the senior players group just ran out of patience in the end.

Good luck to him and indeed to Castleford they have paid us a shed load of money for him they had to beat Toronto's bid but he'll be far more under the microscope around there now than he was when he was playing for a team 40 miles away and yet his reputation still went before him.

You cant really say its a mistake unless you know what goes on behind the scenes. He is our best prop imo, but if his drinking and lack of professionalism has become a big problem then I cant fault the club for having the guts to do this.

As for replacements. I think Kopczak is a really good prop, but I didn't realise how old he was (31) so perhaps wouldn't be great business. Although some props do go strong right into their mid 30s. Sam Burgess has said he would like to have a shot at winning SL before he retires. Would like to think the club will at least be asking the question. Although it would be unlikely to be this season.

Seems he's the type of player that regardless of opportunities will just end up reverting to type and getting sacked. Took a couple of years longer than I expected but it's happened.

The likes of him and Kelly will always end up brain farting and getting sacked, you might get lucky and get this year out of Kelly before his nrl return but he'll get sacked in his career again as will watts at Cas.

On the field he was our second best prop. No way is he better than Scott Taylor.

Think we should look to re-invest the salary in other parts of the team.

We still have 6 props, 5 of whom are local with good attitudes and have many years ahead of them.

Hadley or Abdull both look promising for loose forward which means less need for a prop to play there.

Mini and Sika will not be around forever, Carlos could leave and Connor may end up stand off when Kelly leaves. So we will need money available for some quality in second row and outside backs.

he club made a shed load of money in Aus, now they sell Watts for a shed load, well I hope this money is reinvested in the playing rosta, because I will be even more disappointed in the club than I am now, you just don't sell one of your best forwards to a rival in the middle of the season without a good replacement lined up, very poor and im not hiding behind a load of spin when I say that wilf as good as our young lads are there not on Liams level yet props come into there prime around 27 /28 Cas will have the best years really disappointed that we could not deal with this situation without resorting to this

There must surely be off field issues....if this decision has been made purely due to his on field disciplinary problems it's a crazy decision!!!!

gutted hes gone, but something has gone on which we will properly never find out, gonna back the club on this one as you don't get rid of him for nothing,

The thing that surprises me is that cas have so much space on their salary cap

Disappointed with the news on Watts as thought he was a real threat for us on the field. However reading the piece in the HDM it would seem there is more to the clubs decision than just his lack of on field discipline.
We have to back club to do what is best in terms of the whole team and professional ethos of the club.
If Radford & Ellis feel it was decision that had to be made then we have to trust them.
Hope we look to replace Watts though will be a difficult task.

Hearing Watts is pretty upset by it but if it's off field as well as on field discipline then it's his own fault and the club has to stick to it's morals. Burgess for next season?? He was seen with the FC players in Australia and with Ellis!

Never replaced Hardaker

It's a massive statement.

Short term pain for long term gain maybe?

Really disappointed to see Watts go, I'd hoped he'd spend the rest of his career at Hull. Having said that, I'll back the club over this. I'd heard he'd been on a warning for some personal stuff and no player is bigger than the club. As DGM said we released Lineham and Westerman to much hand wringing from some supporters but both moves worked out OK for us in the long run.

It's difficult in these situations because we never get to hear the full story.

Watts does have 'history' of off field problems such as him & Cockayne in a car chase with police and then trying to leg it. Cockayne was slaughtered for his part in the incident but actually Watts was the driver.

Long time ago but he was forgiven by Rovers only to fall foul of club discipline again and allowed to join Hull.

He was kicked out of Castleford at an early age too for reasons unknown.

You've had 6 good years out of him it was Justin Morgan who rescued him from the scrapheap and then developed him into a England Knights player. Now you have got a healthy transfer fee. You've done very very well out of Liam Watts and who knows possibly had his peak years. If Pearson & Radford think the time is right to part company they are probably right.

yeah, jog on troll.

yeah, jog on troll.

Absolutely gutted from a playing perspective - in our top 3 players IMO along with Sika and Kelly and brought some irreplaceable skill to the table. Great hands, great feet, superb player. Incredibly disappointing.

As others have said though, it appears that he's got disciplinary form off the field and if you're trying to build a culture you have to put a marker down, you can't let individuals take the pis$. The Lineham/Westerman precedent is very relevant here - Watts a similar character just, IMO, with greater potential. Have to trust the club but unless we can replace with quality, which we all know is extremely scarce, particularly mid season, it definitely reduces our chances of on-field success this year. With a host of other players OOC this year such as Kelly, Mini, Manu, Carlos, Green, there's the nagging doubt that we'll see a repeat of our experiences after success in 1991 and 2005 where key players weren't adequately replaced. We have a strong pipeline at least but I'd have thought Watts was a player for us to build a team around, hence Powell and co biting our hand off.

Disappointing because he's such a good player on the field and if he stays healthy there's a lot left for him to offer. But I was wary about the Westerman and Lineham transfers and good players that they undoubtedly were (though I think Watts is that little bit better still), quality replacements were found. Fingers crossed that the FC management has got it right for the 3rd time. Be interesting to see what this move does for Watts international prospects which were apparently nil when at Hull.

It will do nothing for his international prospects, unless he manages to improve his discipline, both on and off the field.
He will need to go the rest of this season free from issues, and probably most of next, at least, before it would even be considered. IMO

I wonder what the transfer fee is.

After how Cas's last transfer fee on Hardaker turned out I'm surprised they have gone and paid another (I imagine) rather big fee, especially for a player who we are willing to let go because of his disciplinary issues (apparently on and off field).

who Would we all like as a replacement for watts ? Like I mentioned earlier it would be a massive statement from the club for a Sam Burgess type player to walk through the door but I dont think anyone can honestly see that happening.