Gareth Widdop expects St George Illawarra’s heart-breaking NRL finals exit to fuel their 2019 campaign but conceded they had to address their concerning trend of post-Origin fadeouts.
After guaranteeing he would remain in Dragons colours for 2019 and not seek an immediate release to return home to England, Widdop has turned his attention to the upcoming NRL season and his battle to recover from a shoulder reconstruction.
The Dragons were bundled out in the second week of the finals at the hands of South Sydney this year after being sunk by two Adam Reynolds field goals in final three minutes of regulation.
And while Paul McGregor’s side did surge late to almost win through to the grand final qualifier, in the wash up they were undoubtedly cruelled by their lacklustre form in the final third of the regular season.
From round 17 onwards, they lost six of nine games, slumping from top spot to seventh.
In 2017 (3-6), 2016 (2-7) and 2015 (4-6), they also ended the regular season in similarly poor fashion.
“You look at the top teams, they’re the most consistent teams,” Widdop said.
“That’s what our team is aiming for. It’s good we haven’t had too much player movement.
“We lost Leeson (Ah Mau) but bring in Korbin (Sims). We’ve got a great roster here.”
Widdop said he hoped the way in which they exited the finals would fuel their desire for next year.
“We got so close that last game there against Souths,” he said.
“It was very pleasing last year but still disappointing. We had a really good start to the year and a bit of a drop off before finding some form in the back end of the year.
“Hopefully the boys will have the hunger from knowing what it’s like to play finals because a lot of them haven’t played finals before.”
Widdop underwent surgery after suffering a shoulder dislocation against Parramatta in round 22 before re-aggravating the injury in week one of the finals against Brisbane.
He has not yet returned to contact work but is confident of being ready for round one against North Queensland in Townsville.
“I’m slowly getting back into it so I’m doing all the running and things like that,” Widdop said.
“It’s just a matter of progression, which is up to the performance staff.”
