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Gareth Widdop quits St George Illawarra Dragons in Super League move JANUARY 14, 2019 St George Illawarra skipper Gareth Widdop will quit the Dragons after agreeing to a move to return to England. The English international will walk away from the final two years of his contract to join Warrington Wolves in 2020. St George Illawarra are expected to announce the move as early as Wednesday with Widdop to take a pay cut to return to England. Dragons officials were stunned when Widdop requested an early move from his contract, which is worth about $1.8 million. The two parties have been in contact since before Christmas. While Widdop, who has played 24 Tests for England, has reaffirmed his commitment to the club for this year, he made it clear he wanted out having harbouring a long-term desire to play in the English Super League while still at the height of his career. The Daily Telegraph has learnt St George Illawarra will retain first rights on Widdop’s services should the 29-year-old opt to return to Australia. “There’s no secret I have aspirations of going over to the UK and playing,” Widdop said in November. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I have a good relationship with the club and so when the time is right we’ll work together.” Wigan, Leeds, Huddersfield and St Helens all tried to sign Widdop but it was former coach Steve Price who secured Widdop’s signature for a second time. Price signed Widdop from Melbourne to the Dragons in 2014 but the partnership was short-lived after Price was axed midway through Widdop’s first season. Price since took over from Warrington and led them to a grand final in his first season last year. Widdop will form a halves combination with Blake Austin after the former Raider joined Warrington this year. Widdop emigrated to Australia from Halifax as a teen. The Dragons have already planned for life post-Widdop having signed Corey Norman. Norman’s arrival is expected to shift Widdop to play fullback for the first time on a regular basis in the NRL. Widdop’s departure will also keep the door ajar for local product Matt Dufty to remain at the club. Despite being just one of five players to feature in all Dragons 26 games last year, the arrival of Norman and Widdop’s switch to fullback is set to see the off-contract Dufty have a reduced role this year. Widdop has played 185 NRL games since making his debut for Melbourne in 2010.

So the geniuses still can't seem to figure out how to sell tickets, bay 38 is down to single seats but 36 & 37 have barely sold. You would of thought even the biggest idiot could work out people want seats in the middle, why wouldn't they have started with bays 40 & 41 when they opened the upper level.

I’m no marketing genius but I would have thought people would prefer to sit near the half way line, why would you only release tickets at one end, surely bays 40 and 41 would of been a better starting point.

So now to add to the excitement they have organised a treasure hunt where there are tickets available but its up to the supporters to find out where they are!!! Flawless plan, this will bring in the peripheral fans.

Link below to the Rush Hour with MG Podcast, Schofield will be on it this arvo Sydney time and the podcast is usually available about an hour later. https://omny.fm/shows/the-rush-hour-with-mg/playlists/podcast

Schofield will be on Mark Geyer's radio show tomorrow arvo in Sydney, its the highest rating show in Sydney in its time slot 6-7pm. If he keeps this up we'll get 80k to ANZ for a test next year.

The Upper Eastern was opened earlier with tickets beings sold, Bay L38 was available until yesterday. It was shown as grey on the map but when you selected you could get in, it had a sprinkling of available seats. Not sure whats going on now, will look weird if there is only a few people sitting up there.

I wonder if the people running the game understand the bigger picture in regards to the damage a small crowd does to the sport. We live in an age of instant access to any sport you want, not like when I was young. When I was growing up my Dad told me this was the greatest sport on the planet, I watched it and loved it, but I also didn't have access to anything else at the time. Nowadays kids have access to whatever they want, my son loves League as I've pretty much forced it down his throat from the minute he was born. But he is a sports lover in general and watches anything from NBA, EPL, AFL and NFL. How do you think I went last week when I told him we will sit up and watch the Kiwis v England, 2 of the best teams in the world. We turn it on and the first thing he said was 'not many people there, cant be that great' and he went to bed. (it was 9pm our time). This is the next generation we are talking about, and if kids like mine who have parents that are rusted on fans are a bit meh about the games how are we going to attract new fans. The stadium and crowd is our shopfront window and should always be the top priority at any event in the sport.

I really feel for you lot over there, as I've said previously I can't believe how archaic the ticketing system is over there. In Australia for almost everything you can get tickets electronically via email or direct to your phone, you have them the minute you purchase them. Onto the game this week, is there any reason the upper level is closed. It appears most of the available area is almost sold, wouldn't opening a whole area of prime seats add a spike in sales. I'm not overly familiar with the stadium layout, is the upper level normally put aside for VIP/Corporates, I know the entire upper level on one side of Allianz in Sydney is for members only.

Well played 😉 I hope they get a late rush, this game can set up the rest of the series with a great atmosphere and game.

Catalan v Warriors in NZ would be good, Tomkins now with the Dragons so something to base the promotion of the game on. Great way to help expansion, a NZ team v a French team.

Sorry, could't resist 😊

Looking forward to this series, and the games are on at a good time in Perth (9pm)

I would of thought this series was set up for big crowds. England had a strong performance in the WC and came within an ankle tap of leveling the game late, they have already beaten the Kiwi's this year as well. Add to this the fact the Kiwi's are coming off a victory over Australia as well as some new faces in both squads I would of thought this would be a series people would want to see.

How does ticketing work over there, in Aus you can get your tickets via email or even straight to your phone. Every time I've got tickets to sport or concerts I've had the tickets within a minute on my email and simply print them on the day, otherwise they are saved onto my mobile and they scan the bar code at the gate. Is this option not available in the UK?