Gareth Widdop knows he isn't the busiest footballer in the NRL but admits even he can feel the strain of the modern-day 12-month rugby league "season".

The issue of player burnout has been front and centre of NRL talk since the end of the 2014 fixture.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey fuelled the fire in November when he claimed rugby league scheduling wasn't allowing Sea Eagles stars Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans enough downtime to get away from the game.

A large handful of Australia's best players withdrew their availability for the Four Nations in November, citing injury as the main contributor.

A 26-round regular season, plus finals, off-season international tournaments, the Auckland Nines competition, and individual club trials mean a lot of professional players rarely get time for any sort of holiday.

South Sydney champion Greg Inglis played a total 32 games in the 2014 calendar year, including three for Queensland and five for Australia.

Widdop's 2014 consisted of all 24 Dragons games and three Four Nations appearances for England. In 2013 he played the World Club Challenge with Melbourne Storm, a season of NRL, then three World Cup games to cap it off.

He knows some players have it tougher and agrees player workload needs to be scrutinised by the game's officials.

"At the end of the day it is your job [to play], but it is quite difficult," he said.

"It must be even harder for the boys who play Origin as well in the middle of the year. But at the same time I've just had an extended break, a good six [or] seven-week break which always helps.

"That's part of football these days, you just have to get on with it," he said.

Following the Four Nations in November, Widdop was allowed an extended break by the Dragons and only returned to training last week.

He used the month-and-a-half off to clear his mind of anything football-related.

"Last year I was away in England and then moved to NSW, so the holiday was just trying to mentally switch off from rugby league for a few weeks and get away with the family, relax. Now it's just another year ahead," he said.

Widdop is eyeing a trip to Auckland at the end of this month for the Nines tournament, before the World Club Series in February.