FORMER Castleford Tigers and Warrington Wolves star Gareth Widdop has admitted that his time in Super League turned into a “disaster” when Covid-19 ruined his time in the UK.
Widdop made the move to the Wolves ahead of the 2020 Super League season following illustrious spells at Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
However, despite the big-money move and the surrounding limelight that followed, Widdop was
Speaking to the Elevate Experience podcast, Widdop revealed that this turned his Super League spell into a disaster.
“Getting to live out a childhood dream of playing in the Super League. I still think I had plenty to offer,” Widdop told the Elevate Experience podcast.
“And to finish my career over there, to then return back to Australia two years later, but unfortunately, I moved there and within two months, COVID hit.
“So that was challenging in the middle of winter over in the UK as you can imagine. I’d literally been there two or three months and it was pitch black, freezing cold, and the world got shut down and the UK with it.
“Unfortunately, what I envisaged seeing of going over there, enjoying myself, playing and doing well just completely went to disaster.”
Widdop admits he would have enjoyed playing under current Warrington head coach Sam Burgess, but that he has no regrets about his move to Castleford that he made in 2023.
“I don’t have any regrets – you make decisions and you’ve got to own them,” Widdop continued.
“It would have been nice because it’s a big Sam Burgess who’s now coaching Warrington. It would have been nice if he’d have been there a year earlier.
“I loved my time at Warrington. It’s such a good club and I had a lot of friends there.
“There was a bit of adversity with some personal issues away from the game which had been going on whilst I was over in the UK.
“My time at Warrington had come to an end, we had a new coach come in and Castleford was a lot closer to home. It gave me an opportunity to go there for a year.
“In that current situation with the things I was dealing with in my personal life, it just felt like we were closer to home. It was the right move and I really enjoyed it.”
Widdop hung up his boots following the culmination of the 2024 season after a period in the Championship with hometown club Halifax Panthers.
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