AGAIN there are questions over the future of St George Illawarra skipper Gareth Widdop – but they are of the short-term variety after the England International hobbled from the field moments before halftime in the Dragons heart-breaking 13-12 golden-point loss to the Roosters on Tuesday.
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In front of an Anzac Day-record 40,864 fans, the traditional rivals turned on an absolute classic, with a clutch sideline conversion from Josh Dugan sending the match into golden point before Roosters half Mitchell Pearce shrugged off a six-year run of field-goal outs to snap the match-winner.
Widdop re-committed to the club for four more years this week and looked very much a man with his future freshly sorted in the first half, putting Joel Thompson across for the only try of the opening stanza.
It ended prematurely, however, with the 28-year-old left clutching at his left knee after fielding a Pearce kick in his own in-goal three minutes before the break.
He was strapped on the run but couldn’t play out the half, with Kurt Mann replacing him 90 seconds before halftime and playing out the match with the early diagnosis of a moderate to high-grade medial ligament strain.
He was forced to watch on from the sidelines as the Roosters overhauled a 6-0 hafltime deficit with tries to Blake Ferguson and Pearce to lead 12-6 with 14 minutes left to play. Michael Gordon extended the margin to six with 76th minute penalty goal before Nene MacDonald’s 78th minute four-pointer to set the scene for Dugan’s heroics.
It came after Dugan also left the field for an HIA assessment midway through the second stanza, returning for a dramatic final seven minutes in which he failed to find touch with a short line-dropout, allowing Gordon a gimme penalty shot from in front of the posts, before atoning with the crucial goal to send the game into extra time.
Widdop’s injury is a huge blow for the Dragons ahead of Sunday’s top of the table blockbuster against Melbourne at WIN Stadium and – with a local derby against defending premiers Cronulla to follow just five days later – threatens to bring their flying start to the season to a screaming halt.
“He’s not good. I’m not sure how bad it is because it’s only fresh but it’s a medial [ligament strain] and I’m not sure of the time frame on it,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said post-match.
“Gareth doesn’t like missing footy so to come off like he did not being able to run, he certainly won’t be playing [for a while] one would think.”
It was the gutsiest of efforts from the Dragons, who were without their two chief attacking aces for much of the second half, and McGregor couldn’t fault his side despite going down in a thriller.
“You don’t lose friends playing like that. There were obviously some circumstances in the game that unfolded,” McGregor said.
“We lost our fullback for a period, we lost our half for a period and came down to golden point. I’m very proud. There was a lot of character shown.
“Once we pushed through the other side and started getting some possession at the end of the game I thought we’d have that second wind because we’ve had it games before.
“It came just in time and when it goes to extra time it’s a bit of a lottery. They won the lottery this time.”