Gareth Widdop’s time at Warrington Wolves has come to an end.
The halfback leaves the Wolves after three years to join the Castleford Tigers in 2023 alongside fellow new half Jacob Miller as Lee Radford puts together a new look halfback pairing at the Jungle.
Widdop’s time at Warrington was up and down. At the start of 2021, Widdop was in world class try scoring form but he was never able to deliver the trophies he wanted.
Speaking on James’ Graham’s podcast The Bye Round, Widdop opened up on the difficulties he faced at the club including the pandemic and personal problems: “I moved at the end of 2019 and I was here for two and a half months before the pandemic hit and at that time I went through a breakdown in my marriage.
“My kids ended up relocating back to Australia and because of the restrictions on travel, I was unsure of what the future held.
“I’d just signed for Warrington and I had aspirations of winning things and playing well over here in the UK with my family around.”
After the end of that first season, he went home to see his children. During this time rumours circulated that he could return to the NRL with plenty of clubs needing a new halfback and with the UK set to be plunged back into lockdown.
Widdop revealed how close he came to returning to the NRL: “It’s not as easy as going back and getting a deal at the end of the day so I decided to return to the UK but at the time I wasn’t sure where I was at with the situation, I was having a little look around in Australia to see if there was something there but I knew what I wanted to do and achieve so I returned to the UK to be around my family and my grandparents.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do that in my time at Warrington, it’s been quite difficult being away from my kids is very very difficult but I keep doing what I do for them and I’ll keep trying to make them proud.”
