What did he not discuss the potential for a global pandemic hitting and his family being put into lockdown in an alien country?

I can't believe that wasn't at the forefront of their thinking back in early 2019 either.

It's been hard enough for us locals so how hard must it be, as PY says, for his family in an alien country. Gareth has a ready made set of mates and rugby to keep him occupied. His family have 4 walls to stare at. It's a real shame as I, as well as many others, had high hopes for this halfback pairing. He hasn't actually gone yet though.

Maybe the reality of being so far from home was harder to deal with than they expected. You never know. Whatever it was, it must have been exacerbated by the last nine months of restrictions.

He’s not lit the team up here and if he’ll be happier somewhere else then good luck to him. It has been a funny year but it should be a lesson that big name signings won’t change our world by themselves.

I think this is good news for Warrington if true. Widdop has been anonymous on a huge wage and if you can get that cap wage back its a good deal all round. Problem Warrington seem to have though is you can never seem to sign a good half back. Sandow was good but a loose cannon. Kurt Gidley was class but a better 1. If the club has known about it for a while i wonder who they have lined up? Be an interesting signing that because your side really isn't that far away but that is certainly a weak area. Rob Butler is a very good signing too. He will come on leaps and bounds in a higher class of facilities and training regimes. I would have wanted him at Wigan if we didn't have so many young props coming through.

His wife is an Aussie as are his kids you can’t blame them for being homesick. They had already gone back to Australia whilst he was playing here during lockdown. I don’t blame Widdop one bit for wanting to be with his kids half way across the world. Family is more important. It’s always the risk you take signing Aussie based players. I’d look more at the club, did we do our due diligence? Hmm...

Due diligence? Are you suggesting that a couple of years in Warrington playing Super League didn't match up to the players expectations?

The pandemic was unforeseeable his family's reaction might have been inevitable given the situation that we ALL find ourselves in but I'm unsure what the club should've done differently once they'd reached a deal with the player.

I'm not blaming him btw family must come first but surely its more appropriate to judge the club on what it does next not what it should have done without the benefit of hindsight

Everytime any club signs an Aussie based player they are taking a risk. When you sign one with a very young family it becomes an ever bigger risk. We seen that with Peta Hiku most recently.

I’m merely suggesting that in the future it would be nice, if, instead of throwing marquee money to the other side of the world for a 31 year old, with a dodgy shoulder who comes with a serious risk of wanting to return home early, we look to our own academy or sign an English based player like Jake Trueman.

I think covid totally ruined the widdop signing for us. He's a fantastic player, no doubt about it, but it's not surprising that his family couldn't settle here under lockdown and restrions. We haven't seen the best of him and thats a real shame, best of luck to him in whatever he moves on to. I genuinely belive he signed for us with all the right intentions so no hard feelings from me if he does end up leaving us as expected.

By and large I don't disagree with your sentiments on the type of player who the club might target particularly our own youth (I'm no sure how Keanan Brand fits your narrative given your previous comments on another thread) but I didn't pick up on this detail in the "due diligence" post. to which I responded,

An Australian import is always a risk, sometimes they work out even at Warrington. I was 50/50 when Widdop was announced but not because of his dodgy shoulder or primarily that there'd almost certainly be a bout of homesickness for Australia.

After all he's 31 so not a wide eyed kid, he's from Halifax so will have some family links to the north of England and its environs should be of no surprise. He's a GB England international so you'd think that he'd have a good idea of the game over here both team mates and opponents. Added to that he's on top dollar, so for a couple of years maybe all parties thought that the risk was minimal and IF he packs his bags it was due to circumstances beyond anyone's control

I don't see the big deal about Widdop wanting to go home if he does. He's not been in great form and if he's a big wage earner it makes things easier for us to get him off the books. Same with Tyrone Roberts a few years ago. I don't know why fans whinge when these opportunities come up that allow us to quickly move a player on who isn't working out.

The bigger issue IMO is when you get guys like Asotasi who don't want an early release, then the club has to suck it up for the whole contract, regardless of how many fans offer to pay for their flight home themselves.

We signed Widdop too late in his career, he doesn't appear to be the player he was. Shame it hasn't worked out for both parties but if we move on I wouldn't get too stressed about it, a team rebuild is easier with him off the books. That is no reflection on Widdop's distinguished earlier career, he dominated the NRL in a playmaker position - when was the last time an English player did that? I wish him and his family well and will respect his career regardless of what happens with us.

RL Mole on Twitter pretty much confirms it, he’s very rarely wrong..

[urlhttps://twitter.com/9_moley/status/1331212253018800129?s=21[/url

I did quack some time ago and told you he was gone at the end of the season.

I beginning to thing Warrington is the (NHS type) NRL’s rehabilitation club of choice.
All we do is sign them crocked. Pay for their treatment and all expenses, $(Aus)1/3m grant, care for them and let them return for nothing and pay the airfare.

I believe you could be right Mr Duck ,we must be on every dodgy Aussies bucket list. Get a two year deal off the Wire & top up your pension while you get the best healthcare . No wonder we can't win anything when so many of our squad are underperforming.
I wonder if Sezer would even finish up as a shadow of his former self within 12 months of pulling on the primrose & blue.

Get Popeye back ffs

What was your assessment of us signing Currie to a new contract back in 2016 after he tore his ACL.

Correct. They went months ago also unknowingly to Mr Widdop at the time.

He’s not a 30-35 year old crocked NRL player.
He’s also a player who has proven ability and we know his attitude in rehabilitating. No question we honour his contract that he was in BEFORE he was injured...not contract post injured.

Another of your Ashton style inside knowledge?

You can believe what you want. I stand by the Ashton comment. The same as I told you we had signed Rob Butler in September.

Very kind of you, I will.

The statement LTS made was 100% accurate.

Th reason I doubted it was as follows

Lord Tony Smith wrote:
Ashton not been in training for a couple of weeks, been a naughty boy I believe.
This was in response to a suggestion that he might play on the wing. I queried it but got no response. When Ashton was named i again queried it, again no response.
I have no inside knowledge but the general impression seems to be that if you upset Price he is definitely capable of cutting off his nose to spite his face. In the light of the information I had I was sceptical about the “inside knowledge” if I’m wrong I’ll happily apologise but a bald statement doesn’t give me much to go on.

I can also confirm LTS 100% correct so he can hardly be blamed for wanting to go back and try to see his kids. Bigger surprise is him seeing out the season given the turmoil he has been in.

I'd already said in other thread that i didn't know the specifics of Ashton, I'd just heard he'd been a naughty boy and that was it.

I don't make stuff up, the same as I said Widdop never had Covid when he never played for a couple of weeks. IT was for 'personal reasons' re his wife and kids going back to Aus without him knowing.

Sorry LTS I haven’t seen the post where you said you didn’t have details re Ashton.
To be honest, the idea that someone can make arrangements to fly to Australia without their husband/father knowing sounds a bit Le Carre hence my scepticism.