Player in Focus: Gareth Widdop
“Gareth Widdop’s weaknesses will all be revealed when he’s without his buddy Cooper”
“Ha, I’d like to see Widdop do any good without being made look like a superstar!”
Some of the classics I’ve witnessed over the long and painful NRL off-season. But hey, without these extremely uneducated “dog shots”, the off-season would be even more unbearable than it already is!
The fact is, Widdop was never ‘made look good’ by Cooper and co. He was merely overshadowed for years in a Storm side with a spine filled with superstars. It was difficult for Widdop to ‘shine’ or take more responsibilities than he was made responsible for.
Widdop was often asked to take a ‘back seat’, as he was given a limited role to play in the pedestrian-like Storm 6 position.
This hurt Widdop’s fantasy ability, as he was never asked to kick the ball in general play. Cronk was responsible for at least 80% of the general play kicking duties on a weekly basis throughout Widdops’ Storm tenure.
In 2014, this all changes. The Englishman moves from Melbourne to Wollongong where he will wear a completely different coloured number 6 jersey. A change which will see him turn into potential fantasy gold.
Using stats from the beginning of Gareth Widdop’s Storm career, we’re going to show you how he performed when Cronk was injured (rarely the case) or on State of Origin Duties.
Prepare to be engrossed, blown away, flabbergasted.
All of the above ^
On the grand scale of things, Widdop didn’t play a great deal of Footy without Cronk in his time at the Storm, in fact, just six games in four years. However, let’s take a gander.
2010:
Games with Cronk: 0
Average: n/a
2011:
Games without Cronk: 3
Average: 5.26
2012:
Games without Cronk: 1
Average: 7.0
2013:
Games without Cronk: 2
Average: 4.5
Widdop scored just as a fantasy gun half would (without conversions), when Cronk was absent from the side.
Goal Kicking:
Plenty of CEO’s watched with interest as Gareth took on goal kicking duties in the Charity Shield on the weekend. With Josh Dugan out for up to six weeks, this locks his responsibilities in concrete. With 25 successful conversions from 33 in his career, Widdop will be looking on improve as he gets more practice.
Will you be picking Gareth Widdop?
Even if Widdop was to go all of the 2014 season without a strike at the goal posts, based on my realistic predictions, he would go on to average 8.6 points anyway.
Last year, the average score for Gareth Widdop, was approximately 3 points per game. At the Dragons, it should be much more.
Now go on, get out of here and go draft that bargain buy.
Written by Christian ‘Sipi’ Sipione (follow Sipi On Twitter @SportsDiehard94)
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The Crystal Ballboy
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