Gareth Widdop

At 35 years old, Gareth Widdop has this physical status:

Gareth Widdop (born 12 March 1989) is an English professional rugby league footballer who competes as a scrum-half for the Warrington Wolves in the Betfred Super League, as well as England and Great Britain at international level. In the NRL, Widdop appeared for both the Melbourne Storm and the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

He dominated the 2012 NRL Grand Finals with Melbourne and has competed for the World All Stars.

Early life

Widdop was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, and spent his junior rugby for King Cross before heading to Melbourne, Australia, where he was educated at Bayside Secondary College.

Widdop Graep vs. NRL Grand Final in 2006 and continued to participate in the Melbourne Rugby League for Altona Roosters under his father Gary. He was introduced to the Storm by Dean Lance and was enrolled in the Storms Academy U18 program by Paul Bramley, the High Performance Manager at the time, and the Australian Affiliated U18 Schoolboys, and he eventually signed for Melbourne Storm's Under 20s team.

Widdop was voted on the interchange bench in the 2009 NYC Team of the Year on September 2, 2009. In the 2009 NYC Grand Finals against the Wests Tigers NYC Team, Widdop scored the match winning try and goal on the 24-22 victory. In 2009, Widdop was named the Storms' NYC player of the year.

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Club career

In 2010, Widdop's first season with the Melbourne Storm was his first year as part of the 2010 World Club Challenge against Leeds Rhinos, but he was not selected to play, but he did select the man of the match award in their warm-up game against the Harlequins.

In Round 7 of the 2010 NRL season, Widdop made his NRL debut against the Warriors, where he was centre for the Storms' 40-6 victory at Etihad Stadium. This was notably the first game where the Storm lost following reports of their salary cap scandal, which culminated in the club's removal of three minor premierships, two premierships, and the right to accrue any competition points in 2010. Widdop made his first appearance at fullback against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Round 12, scoring a touchdown and kicking 3 conversions in the 23-12 victory at AAMI Park. For his third and final appearance in the Storm, the Wests Tigers defeated the Lions in Round 25, Widdop was put back in the center.

Widdop was named at five-eighth in the 2010 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year on September 9, 2010. Widdop played in three matches, scoring 1 try and kicking 3 goals for the Melbourne Storm in the 2010 NRL season, marking his debut in the NRL.

Widdop re-signed with the Storm on May 14th, 2011, but not until the 2013 season comes to an end. In the 2011 NRL season, Widdop appeared in 25 games, scoring 2 tries, kick 7 goals, and kick 1 field goal for the Melbourne Storm.

Widdop won by five points in the Storm's 2012 NRL Grand Final against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on September 30, 2012. Widdop completed the 2012 NRL season by playing in 25 games, scoring 4 goals, and kicking 12 goals.

In the 2013 World Club Challenge at Headingley Stadium, Widdop started the 2013 season as five-eighth. Widdop had signed a four-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons, beginning in 2014. Widdop suffered a dislocated hip in Round 15 against the Gold Coast Titans, an awkward tackle in the Storms' 18-12 loss at Cbus Super Stadium. In the Storms' 20-10 loss at ANZ Stadium, Widdop returned to action against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Week 1 of a finals match. Widdop spent his last year with the Melbourne Storm, scoring 3 times and kick 3 goals in the 2013 NRL season.

Widdop's debut with the St George Illawarra Dragons against the Wests Tigers in Round 1 of the 2014 NRL season, demonstrated his worth in four of the team's seven tries and eight goals, against the Dragons 44-24 victory at ANZ Stadium. Parts of the season, Benji Marshall's signing meant a new halves partner for Widdop. Widdop scored his first club appearance for the Dragons in Round 16, against his former team, the Melbourne Storm, in a 24-12 victory. Widdop played in all of the Dragons' 24 matches during his first year with the St George Illawarra Dragons, scoring 137 points from 3 tries, 61 goals, and three field goals.

In the 18-12 victory over Halliwell Jones Stadium, Widdop appeared in the World Cup Series against Warrington Wolves, where he kicked 3 goals. Widdop played his 100th NRL match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Round 6, defeating the Dragons 31-6 at ANZ Stadium. Widdop was the hero and the villain in the Dragons' week one elimination final match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, but the Dragons' second-rower Shaun Lane kicked a penalty goal in the 80th minute, but Widdop's third-rower scored a point in the 80th minute, but the Dragons called the game to extra time after the Dragons' fourth-rower scored a penalty kick in the 80th minute, but the Dragons, hehe Widdop was the villain after his kick out on the full in the hopes of getting a 40/20 finish, which culminated in Bulldogs' Josh Reynolds' match-winning field goal four tackles later in the Dragons' season 11-10 at ANZ Stadium. Widdop finished the 2015 NRL season as the club's top tryscorer and point scorer, scoring 182 points in 24 matches, ranging from 9 tries to 73 goals.

In the 2016 All Stars match against the Indigenous All Stars, Widdop was playing at five-eighth in the 12-8 victory at Suncorp Stadium on February 13.

The Dragons returned to form in the early 2017 season, with some good performances from Widdop. He received his Dally M five-eighth of the year.

Widdop made 22 appearances for St George in 2018 as the club qualified for the first time since 2015, finishing 7th at the end of the season, though the saints lead the competition earlier this year. For the second time in the season, Widdop dislocated his shoulder against Brisbane in week one of the finals series. After losing the same shoulder a month before against Parramatta, Widdop was only returning to the squad. Widdop was eventually disqualified from the following weeks' elimination final against South Sydney.

In round 3 against the Brisbane Broncos, Widdop dislocated his right shoulder for the 25-24 victory. Widdop will need a second shoulder reconstruction, according to Scans, and the player will miss 4–5 months.

St George beat the Gold Coast 24-16 in round 25 against the Gold Coast. Widdop kicked four goals. In his last game for the club, Widdop scored 1000 NRL points. St George finished the season in 15th place on the table, in what was one of the club's worst seasons in history.

In an 18-8 victory over Wakefield Trinity on February 16, 2020, Widdop made his debut at scrum-half.

Widdop scored two tries in a 44-12 victory over Leigh in round 2 of the 2021 Super League season. In Warrington's 38-12 victory over Castleford, he scored a hat-trick in round 7. In a 62-18 victory over Salford, he scored two tries in the first week. Warrington lost by 19-0 elimination playoffs to Hull Kingston Rovers, which was disappointing.

In the 2022 Super League season, Widdop played in 15 games for Warrington, despite the club's difficult campaign to finish 11th.

Widdop had signed for Castleford on a two-year contract on October 6, 2022.

International career

Widdop's 19-man squad for the match against France on June 12, 2010 received a surprise call up on June 1, 2010 to face France. Widdop was fullback and scored a try with his first touch of the ball, as Kevin Sinfield was forced to leave England after England's 60-6 victory, he kicked 2 goals.

Widdop was called up to the England squad for the Four Nations in mid-September, he began at full throttle in an 18-all draw in the warm-up match against New Zealand Mori, in which he kicked 3 goals at Mt Smart Stadium. England lost their first game 24-10 against New Zealand's reigning world champions, Widdop, who scored a try and kicking a goal in the 24-10 loss at Westpac Stadium, with Widdop again on the scoresheet. Widdop was not selected for the match against Australia, but he was on the interchange bench in the final game against Papua New Guinea, where he scored a goal at center.

Widdop was placed on the interchange bench for England against Wales, where he scored a try during the game's 42-4 victory at Leigh Sports Village in the first match of the 2011 Four Nations. In a 30-8 loss at Elland Road, Widdop appeared in England's last match against Australia on the interchange bench. Widdop participated in all four games and scored a goal in the tournament.

Widdop was chosen to represent England from the bench against Italy, where he came on and kicked a goal. In the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, Widdop participated in three matches and kicked a goal for England.

Widdop was selected in England's 2014 Four Nations squad. In the group stages, Widdop played against Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. With six, two, and one goals respectively, Widdop scored in all three matches.

In England's 2-1 Baskerville Shield series victory, Widdop appeared in all three Test matches against New Zealand, kicking ten goals.

Gareth was selected for England's test match against France and a test series against New Zealand at the end of the club season. In a thrilling 84-4 victory over the 'Les Tricolores,' in the test match against France, Widdop kicked 12 goals for a record breaking victory of the 'Les Tricolores'.

Widdop was selected in the England squad for the 2016 Four Nations in October. England played a practice match against France before the tournament, with Widdop scoring his 100th test point in England's 40-6 victory.

He was chosen in the England squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in October 2017.

He was selected in England's team for the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s.

He was selected in the squad for the 2019 Great Britain Lions tour of the Southern Hemisphere. In the loss to Tonga, he made his Great Britain test debut.

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