He feared his career could be over when his shoulder crumpled yet again but Gareth Widdop is now ready to fire Castleford to success.
The ex- England stand-off is looking forward to the new campaign more than most given how his 2022 season ended. Widdop suffered an agonising dislocated shoulder scoring for Warrington at Magic Weekend in July. He’d endured plenty of issues with the same right shoulder before, dislocating it three times in just eight months with NRL side St George Illawarra.
The latest ended ‘marquee’ signing Widdop’s three-year Warrington stint as he never played for them again and he did wonder if it might even signal the end of a decorated career. He recalled: “I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve not had many injuries until I did my shoulder in 2018 and 2019. So I can’t complain. And it’d been good for a couple of years.
