Three members of Whitehaven’s 2022 squad will not be back next season – adding to Ryan King and Nikau Williams who it was revealed last week are moving on.
Although no destinations have been announced for Australian forward King and Kiwi half-back Williams it is generally believed that both willm be playing Championship rugby next season.
As well as those two Whitehaven have now confirmed that Geronimo Doyle, Will Evans and Tom Wilkinson will also be moving on.
Wilkinson will be taking time out of the game while Evans and Doyle have decided to pursue other options in 2023.
Wilkinson leaves the club after joining the club ahead of the 2019 League 1 season which saw the club finish the season as champions to secure promotion to the Championship for the then curtailed 2020 season.
He leaves the LEL Arena after playing 70 games, scoring six tries and held in high regard in the pro game after his switch from Askam.
Interim chief executive Ashley Kilpatrick said: “Wilko has decided to take some time away from the game and the club understands his decision. He will be a massive miss in the middle.
“Wilko is your seven or eight out of 10 man every week. He has been brilliant since I came to the club, because he just comes in, puts his head down and gets in with it. I’d like to thank him and wish him all the best in the future.”
Evans leaves the LEL Arena after just one season in which he made 26 appearances for the club, scoring eight tries. He really hit form towards the end of the campaign which won him young player of the year at the club’s end of season awards night.
Evans also made his international debut mid-season for Wales in their Test against France and will hoping to be apart of their squad for the World Cup which starts next month.
On Evans’ departure Kilpatrick said: “Will spoke to me earlier this week and informed me that he has decided to move on and further his career away from Whitehaven in 2023.
“Will struggled when he first came over and I don’t think that’s any secret but towards the back end of the year we saw the potential he has when he showed what he can do.
“Will was helping coaching the development academy and bought into what we were doing with that. I’d like to thank him for his efforts in 2022 and wish him all the best in the World Cup as well as for 2023.”
Doyle will also leave the LEL Arena after what has been a frustrating year for the Kiwi full back which has seen him limited to 13 appearances during which he scored two tries.
He broke his arm in the 1895 cup play-off back in April which meant that he made only two more appearances for the remainder of the campaign.
Despite his limited appearances on the field in the second half of the campaign the Kiwi continued to play his part off the field being part of the club’s media team producing content for the club’s social media channels.
Kilpatrick said: “Geronimo has decided to move on for 2023. It hasn’t worked for him at Whitehaven sadly and I don’t think we saw the potential he has through no fault of his own.
“Breaking his arm in the early part of the season and suffering setbacks when attempting to return hasn’t helped with that. However when Geronimo did play you could see the potential with his attacking flair, and I wish him all the best for 2023 and his future career.”
