DARYL Powell has reaffirmed his desire to keep on-loan centre Jake Wardle at Warrington Wolves permanently.

He labelled some of the comments made by Ian Watson – the head coach of Wardle’s parent club Huddersfield Giants – surrounding the deal involving him and Wire centre Toby King as “factually incorrect” but admitted their pursuit of Wardle was in the hands of the Yorkshire side.

Wardle and King swapped clubs in a loan deal until the end of this season and since then, both have impressed with Wardle scoring six tries in 10 appearances.

Warrington Guardian:

Jake Wardle scores against parent club Huddersfield Giants on Monday. Picture by SWPix.com

The longer-term aspect of the deal was set to be reviewed shortly but it was recently confirmed that King would spend 2023 on loan at Wigan Warriors, which Watson says scuppered any prospect of Wardle’s move to Warrington becoming permanent.

> Read Ian Watson's comments in full here

Powell confirmed he is looking to recruit a centre for 2023 and that Wardle was his first choice, but that they would move to “Plan B” if Huddersfield’s stance on the 23-year-old remains unchanged.

“We would be looking to recruit in that area,” he said.

“There were things said by Ian Watson about the situation with Jake that were factually incorrect. We would be looking to keep Jake if we can.

“They’re saying he’s going back there – things change but I don’t know which way it’s going to fall.

“At the moment, he’s contracted there and if that stays like that, that forces our hand to look at Plan B.

“We are actively working on that at the moment.”