The decision to seek a release with two years to run on his Dragons deal to link with Warrington from next season came as a shock to the club in February.

At the time the Dragons were widely tipped to finish top four and widely considered a premiership chance, a run at that shaping as the ideal swansong.

Things could barely have deviated further with the 30-year-old dislocating his shoulder in round three. It required surgery and saw him miss four months of footy.

By the time he returned in round 19 his side was out of finals contention and limping towards the club's worst finish as a joint-venture.

The Tigers spoiled his home farewell last week, leaving his final outing in Dragons colours a 15^th versus 16^th dead rubber on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

You don't get to write your own scripts in sport, but whichever football gods were writing Widdop's haven't been kind.

"It'd be nice if everything was perfect and smooth sailing but unfortunately that's life, things happen," Widdop said.

"It's certainly been a really rough season with off-field [issues], myself with injury, where we are as a group and not finishing off playing finals.

"It's been very disappointing but I've just tried to enjoy being back playing again, trying to get a bit of confidence back in the shoulder.

"I've got one more game to go so I'm just trying to enjoy that and put in a good performance."

Widdop will depart as one of the joint-venture's finest players but with only two finals outings in six seasons.

Having made seven in just three campaigns in Melbourne it inevitably begs the question as to how he feels about the decision to shift to Wollongong. On that score, he wouldn't change a thing.

"I certainly have no regrets, I've learned a lot as a person and as a leader on and off the field," he said.

"This club's been a big part of my life and my family's life. My kids have grown up here and being a captain of the club's been a huge honour.

"Hindsight's a wonderful thing, you never know, I probably wouldn't have got those opportunities if I'd stayed down in Melbourne to take my leadership to the next level.

"There's certainly been some highs at the club and some lows, it's disappointing to finish off this way but I've got no regrets about what I've done and the decisions I've made."

Having made the decision to leave the club long before the season the began, the last outing has long loomed on the horizon. It's finally arrived but Widdop isn't expecting the reality to sink in just yet.

"I've been asked the question a lot the last couple of weeks but I don't think it's really going to hit until I'm sat at home on the lounge in a couple of weeks' time and think 'shit it's all over'," he said.

"Because the decision was made early on I knew in the back of my mind it was coming.

"I think after the game on the weekend it'll probably hit home a little bit but I'm just trying to enjoy the last couple of moments and hopefully we can go out there and get the win to finish up."