Castleford Tigers sign Widdop on two-year-deal

The Halifax-born playmaker is England’s second-highest points scorer of all time, having been capped internationally on 32 occasions, 28 times with England and four matches for Great Britain.

The 33-year-old played in the NRL for a decade, with Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra Dragons, before joining Warrington Wolves in 2020, making 49 appearances, scoring 20 tries, kicking 47 goals, and picking up their Player of the Year award in 2021.

“I’m really excited to extend my career for another couple of seasons at such a great club. It means a lot,” Widdop told castlefordtigers.com.

“They’ve put faith in me to bring me across to Castleford, hopefully, I can bring a lot of experience from my career. I’m really excited to get started with the club.

“I spoke to Radders (head coach Lee Radford) a couple of times, and he threw it out there about the potential of moving to Castleford.

"I know a few of the players who I’ve played alongside in Australia and the UK as well, and they said what a great coach he is. After speaking on the phone to him (Radford) and in person, he seems like a really good person and a really good coach, so I’m looking forward to working with him.

“I see a lot of the boys around, some of them live my way. It’s a great squad, a great roster and they’re heading in the right direction, and I really want to be a part of that.

“I’d like to think I can bring a lot of experience. I’ve been fortunate to play at the highest level for a number of years now and play in some really big games.

"On a personal level, I base my game on competing and working hard and that’s where my game starts. With my knowledge of playing the game for a long time, I hope I can work with the boys well.

“We already have a great team and some good players, if I can add that extra one percent to improve the team then we’re going in the right direction.”

He added: “I want to bring success to the club. It’s the reason we play the game, to win trophies and play in the big games. I’ve still got the fire inside me to do that.

“I’m coming to the back end of my career now and when this opportunity popped up at Cas with the players in this team, and the great coaching staff there’s no reason why not.

"It takes a lot of hard work along the way, and I’ve still got aspirations to lift some silverware. We want to be winners and it’s what we’re striving for.”