But the major difference is that widdop family would NOT be in a unfamiliar environment. Surely they would come to England regularly as Widdop has in the position of having family over here and he is. You know. ENGLISH. So it would be at least more familiar than say ashton sims for example. Who relocated his family and moved his life to warrington for what was it 3 or 4 years. With no one here. Then you have people like toa, who havent fone back home since coming to england.

Not about the player it's about their family. If the partners can't hack it that's it game over.Blake Austin has an extremely supportive partner and his 4 kids are a credit to them both. They also had the benefit of friends already here and it wasn't lock down so were able to travel around a fair bit. Very different for Widdops partner who i believe really struggled from day 1.

If he goes he goes, hope he sees the season out well and finishes with the big trophy without hurting his troublesome shoulder.

Is his wife British or Australian?

He has to do what's right for him and his family. It would be better if he sees the season out at least.

Aussie

Maybe it's time, we as a club (and possibly the game in general), reassess these Aussie imports'contracts.

e.g. take a ball park figure of £250,000 p.a. as his ceiling.
He would reach this goal by appearances, winning games and cups, AND actually seeing out each year of his contract. Too many times now, "superstars" from the NRL are coming over for big money, then suddenly getting cold feet, or a better offer back home. Whatever happened to honour?
Bar Walters in 2000, I can't recall any Aussies going back early, until the last few years.
Yes, this homesickness tag can be covered under the umbrella of "mental health", which extends to players' families, but then the clubs have to look at recruiting again, at great inconvenience to themselves.

If we assume that Widdop is going then how many is that that have left their contracts early in recent times? Three (Widdop, Roberts, Sandow)?

Is that a lot in the context of the total number of players who have come from the NRL over the years?

I don’t disagree with focusing on more on home grown talent because clearly that removes the homesickness risk but I think it’s worth going for a foreign player if they have the quality on the park.

I would hope that the club, like any business, would review the success or otherwise of all contracts and learn lessons from it.

You can put all sorts of clauses into contracts including loyalty bonuses, buy out fees etc. This only works if both sides are willing to agree to them. The problem seems to be one of supply and demand. The best players are in demand in both hemespheres which gives them greater power at the negotiating table.

I wouldn’t include Sandow on the list of Warrington players. We only brought him over because Smith screwed up by not replacing Briers with an equivalent level of player. And the reason he went home early was definitely not homesickness.

I’ll be interested to see how GI settles with his partner here. It’s only a year contract but there’ll still be a level of COVID restrictions in place which might make their winter a bit miserable. Also his kids are staying in Aus so that will be tough. Hopefully they’ll stick him in the Cheshire countryside with some horses (a passion for both him and his partner) and keep him away from the bars of Stockton Heath on those long winter nights.

I was thinking just this. Hopefully the club have already lined up the ultimate equestrian experience.

A bookies in Runcorn Shopping City

Not really a big surprise that Widdop and particularly his family are homesick for Aus. In an interview in England in late 2017 he said:

"My wife Carley and Kids Braden,Harper Rose and Willow all call Aus home - and while I do as well, having spent over a decade here, it's like the saying goes, there is no place like home. England will always hold a special place in my heart."

I'm with Lefty on this. If I was offered the chance to work and live abroad witb mg family my first question would be "how will the wife and kids manage?" because if your home life is poor you ain't gonna stick it out no matter what your bank balance.

So, do what most families would do and look at the climate, where you'll be living, what amenities and social life there is, the experiences of others etc.

Frankly, some of our recent imports priority list seems to be :

1). Salary
2). Get-Out Clause
3). Opportunities to sample the fermented delights of the UK

... ...

654). Will the wife and kids like it

Let him go and throw a blank cheque at Sezer.

Infamy
Infamy
They've all got it infamy

I didn't realise Inglis was leaving his kids in Aus, that's a very hard decision to make.
If he only stayed for 1 year and we got a 70% inglis i'd be happy, i just hope he'll come over and be happy here.
Aiden Sezer would be a nice edition to the squad.
The way our luck with halves is going though we'll end up signing Rangi Chase. Literally can't think of anyone free that would add alot to us.
Joe Mellor would do a decent job for us but don't think he has the Quality of the likes of Widdop....but who does?

More like Lorraine Chase

She could fly into Luton Airport

Maybe give Riley Dean a few run outs soon?

‘Halton Lea Shopping Centre’... the place where they stick Widnesian refugees after they escape across the water.

The dinghies going across from West Bank are like the scenes in the English Channel. Boatload of Wid scratters, going over to the Promised Land...... Runcorn

Nowhere to be seen again in today’s lineup. The silence is deafening.

How soon do you think it takes to get over Covid?
My pal got it 4 months ago and he still takes oxygen and is now registered disabled.

His social media shows he's doing ok. Doesn't look ill and he's out and about too. If he's back Friday brilliant but we have proven over the last few weeks we can still play and win without a number of our 'star' players. For rotation it's always better to have as many as possible.
Not sure Sita will be back anytime soon. I know it's a Widdop thread sorry for derailing, but we need to get shut of Sita if he's gonna be missing so much and as Price has already said, he's not up to it.

Add Latu to the Sita list. Let’s then recruit a couple of props next season and also a half as I’d be surprised if Widdop will be around next year. I do however think Latu has another year to run on his contract.