Couple of questions after your sparkling wit and insightful comments - do you watch the NRL? Who do you support?

Saints, but not the Australian one!

Why come on and create another thread with another account?... some people are so obsessed with warrington.... Bless

probably lives here... one of those salty ones.

Looking beyond the trolling of the OP, I think it's wise to temper expectations about Widdop. He has had injury problems and is in his 30s and you never know whether these will be persistent. The nagging fear I have had since we signed him, is that he will be one of those players who plays a few game, then gets injured for a while, then comes back for a bit and gets injured again, and never gets in a proper rhythm. Meanwhile we are all waiting "once Widdop gets back fit we will be much better" and it never happens.

The upside of Widdop is that he could be a real difference maker as he has background as one of the best players in the NRL for a while, and he should be able to come in and be comfortably our best player. Also no character issues or signs that he's a big time charlie. He should be a Morley/Hodgson type presence in the dressing room. They were here at similar age as well.

When we signed him I think people expected that we would be at least close to GF winners in 2019 and Widdop would be the missing piece that took us to be favourites in 2020. I think we can see now that we have a lot of issues to fix so GF win seems a stretch. But if he stays fit the whole season he should be able to elevate us a fair bit ahead of where we were in 2019.

If we can keep him fit, then he will be a huge asset... he will take control of the team and lead us around the pitch..... He is exactly what we need in that respect... and he will compliment Austin massively.

However, if he gets injured alot.... its back to Austin and Patton... and like Sally says, we will spend all season saying 'when widdop is back'.

Its a bit of a risk, but you cant fault the club for taking it.

I no longer get excited about any signings.

Our signings are the RL equivalent of VAR, don't celebrate too early!

As long as he can hoof the ball vertically on the last tackle then he'll be alright.

Our marquee signing is looking decidedly average.

I really feel for Simon Moran. He's put his heart, soul and money into this club.
We've had some rewards and seen some great footy in the past but look an awful long way from winning the big one.

I’m not too alarmed. He’s a fantastic player, and hopefully will be given a licence to play attacking rugby.

I wouldn’t judge anyone on their value based on this tour, it’s shambolic.

And on a positive note - at least Bennett's team selection hasn't already destroyed our anticipation regarding a successful Widdop and Austin half back combination.

You could say that about every player on this tour though. We know what each individual is capable of, we just need Steve Price to take a step back and actually consider what he needs to let the players do to allow some attacking options. I'm not blaming Widdop for this or a lack of attack next season. Let's see what Price has up his sleeve now he's reviewed 2019.

Agree with this but I really just think we will rue not appointing another coach but the time we are half way through next season. Widdop will be asked to do the same in a wire shirt that he has been asked to do in a GB shirt. Don't expect anything better even if he is far more talented than what has been on show.

I do think that the majority of the blame lies with Bennett and particularly the squad selection, but to allude that players like Widdop should be absolved of any part of this shambles because they are only doing what they've been asked to do is way off the mark.

There were some senior guys out there but no leaders when things didn't go according to plan and it was just like watching us on our bad days last year and we all know how many of them we had.

From a Wire perspective Philbin and Clark were positives for me and bizarrely Austin came out with some credit errors yes but also effort. Hill and Hughes as expected distinctly average. Widdop well I'm relieved like Shiny that at least his combination with Austin isn't already in tatters

The whole team have been poor, doesn't change how good Widdop or Austin are. I can't wait to see them together next year

Playing behind 2nd best pack.
Hence why it's of high urgency we buy a prop...well 2 because Hill and Cooper spent so much of it out of the squad last season.

Summed it up very well there Rico. I would agree I think it would unfair to be to critical of Widdop, it would be far better to judge him after 10 games of the Super league Season alongside Austin.

There are a lot of players in 12 months time that won’t be called into the England Squad. It’s fair to say the experiment of Austin, Hastings and Coote(Scotland anyway) hasn’t exactly worked out so I will be surprised if they are selected again especially under an English coach like Wane. The likes of Hall and Mcgilivary(Form), Graham, Hill, Lockers(Age) and S.Burgess(retired) we could see a very different young fresher England side.

The current man of steel has also looked terrible on this tour. I doubt Wigan fans are worried about what he can bring to their side next season. Super league is probably at its worst standard since it's inception, players like widdop can still shine in it when they're out of form.

Pretty much all the players have been useless on this tour... Something was wrong the whole squad over.

Widdop will prove to be a great signing.

Indeed. I doubt st helens are worried about Thompson being a non-tackling metre crunching show pony with back acne!! Its only this tour that has shown that.

We've just had an insight in to what Widdop looks like in a mediocre and uninspiring side, which isn't able to impose itself on its opponents.

If we were hoping that Widdop was going to be the guy with background at the top of the NRL, to reignite an average GB side, we were disappointed.

This doesn't mean he is a bad player but he might not be a player who is going to have a transformational impact on an otherwise pedestrian side. How he looks playing for GB might be a better predictor of how he will look for us than watching clips of him playing in St George Illawarra's best days.

You can always play Widdy at fb, and Ratchy int halves.

Think we might also keep Charnley & Lineham on the wings & Austin in the halves.

We've just had an insight into how Hastings MOS would have looked in the second half of the season at Warrington. I don't what the answer is to our problems, but I hope Price has worked it out.

He’ll be playing for a higher quality SL side than he was an NRL side (in relation to how both sides are in their own league) and when he was fit last season he had some brilliant performances.