Jon Wilkin brutally hits back at backlash to previous comments

Jon Wilkin is never short of a bold or divisive and some would say that is what makes him a good pundit.

He certainly believes so.

Speaking on the Rugby League Verdict, a backlash to his previous negative comments towards Salford Red Devils’ defence was brought up.

Wilkin, though accepting that the comments were no longer true, stated that they were true at the time.

“I will say this Jenna, at the point at which I made the comment, Salford had been performing pretty poorly and sometimes my job as a pundit is to speculate about a team’s prospects and at that point in time Salford’s defence had been woeful.

“It had been sketchy for a number of weeks so as a moment in time I 100% stand by what I said.

“Now did it take me any joy to say that about Salford? No of course not because what they showed when they apply a robust mindset to their defence and add that defensive side to their game, they are incredibly difficult to beat and a club with such small resources and passionate fans I think they have done incredibly well to get to the position that they are in.

“But when it comes to those comments, at that point that’s what I felt.”

He then went on to say that his job is not to be dull but is to be ruthlessly honest:

“If we want to get into what my job as a pundit is, I could sit here and spit biennial platitudes at you all day that aren’t interesting and are really dull but that’s not what my job is.”