Another piece of St George Illawarra’s recruitment puzzle has fallen into place after the club announced captain Gareth Widdop has signed a four-year contract extension.
The England international will be at the Dragons until the end of the 2021 season and, along with new signing Ben Hunt from Brisbane, seemingly have their long-term halves combination locked in.
Widdop has played 79 games in the Red V since arriving in 2014 and recently became the club’s second highest point scorer behind Jamie Soward.
The 28-year-old said it was a big decision but was happy to be staying at the club.
“The Dragons have grown more and more since I've arrived. There's a good environment here and it's a good place to be so I wanted to play my part in that,” Widdop said.
“At this stage of my career it certainly was a big decision for my family. I have three young kids, I'm very settled here in Wollongong and I'm enjoying my time here.”
The club’s director of rugby league pathways Ian Millward said the club had shown confidence in Widdop by making him their long-term leader.
“We were very conscious of creating stability and consistency in our team and we feel we have achieved that with the re-signing of Gareth,” he said.
“Gareth's our leader and obviously plays in a vital position so we're over the moon that he has re-signed.”
The club will turn their attention to retaining Australia and NSW representative Josh Dugan and coach Paul McGregor after their blistering start to the season.
