Warrington Wolves chief executive on their 2023 recruitment

The England international, who finished 2022 on loan with The Wire and impressed by scoring six tries in 11 appearances having been swapped with Toby King, who went to the Giants in return.

With King joining Wigan Warriors on loan for 2023 and with Connor Wrench out until around Easter with an ACL injury, Daryl Powell was keen to bring Wardle in permanently.

However, a deal could not be done and Wardle will join King at the DW Stadium next year.

Jake Wardle in action for Wire during 2022 (Image: SWPix.com)

At last week’s fan’s forum, chief executive Fitzpatrick outlined the things Huddersfield were asking for in order to do the deal and also explained why the King-Wardle loan swap was not feasible longer-term.

“I share the disappointment in terms of Jake Wardle not returning,” he said.

“We tried to do a deal with Huddersfield but I’ll be honest with you, they had some ridiculous demands.

“They wanted Josh Thewlis and Connor Wrench and when that didn’t work, they wanted George Williams.

“We couldn’t get to a solution unfortunately. Jake was disappointed as he wanted to come here, but he was contracted to Huddersfield and they had a say in where he went.

“We offered the swap with Toby King, but Toby has three years left on his contract with us and we’d have had to have paid him off with a substantial amount of money. It just didn’t make sense.”

Fitzpatrick was also asked if King, who will still have two years to run on his Wire contract once his loan with Wigan expires, had played his last game in a Warrington shirt.

“At the moment, I’m unsure,” he said.

“At present, it was best for both parties that he went on a season-long loan.

“Things do change and we’ve got a decent relationship with Toby, but it was best for him and for us that he doesn’t come back here next season.”

Having finished 2022 on loan at Huddersfield, Toby King will play for Wigan next year (Image: Mike Boden)

Another player who will be spending 2023 away from the club is second rower Ellis Longstaff, who has joined Salford Red Devils on loan.

The academy graduate is a popular figure among the fanbase and will be out of contract at the end of the coming season, but Fitzpatrick left the door open for a potential return.

“Ellis is a great kid with lots of potential, but he wants to play in the first team. He probably needs to go and experience that at a different club,” he said.

“We are happy with what we’ve got in the back row, he was keen to play somewhere else next season so it was best for both parties.

“Could he come back here in 12 months? Yes he could, but he felt it was better for his development that he plays somewhere else in 2023.”

Ellis Longstaff will spend 2023 on loan at Salford (Image: Bob Brough)

Winger Matty Russell, who rejoined the club last week to provide cover in the outside backs, looks set to be The Wire’s final piece of recruitment for the season ahead.

He joins scrum-half Josh Drinkwater and forwards Paul Vaughan, Josh McGuire, Sam Kasiano and Gil Dudson as a new face in the squad for 2023.

In playing down the prospect of further additions before the opening game against Leeds Rhinos on February 16, Fitzpatrick says the club will be “keeping their powder dry” unless a presentable opportunity arose.

“We’ve still got a bit of salary cap space left but unless something pops up before the start of the season, we’ll be keeping our powder dry.

“Despite the two new recruits, we’ve still got some space left over.”

When asked how the deal to sign Russell came about, he added: “Stefan Ratchford approached me saying Matty was looking for a club and was desperate to come back.

“Daryl Clark did similar and said after we played Toulouse that he was still a real handful.

“Matty had a few options on the table to come back to Super League as well as an extension at Toulouse.

“We felt we were a little bit light in the outside backs with Connor Wrench being out until around Easter and we felt we needed someone to get us up the field.

“Matty’s stats in that are phenomenal – he was the fifth-highest tackle breaker in Super League last year playing for Toulouse.

“He’s not cost us the Earth and he hasn’t eaten into a lot of cap space, so we could still go for someone else if they became available.

“In terms of value, we thought it was the right decision and a good fit all-round.”