Dean Widders

Dean Widders

Widders in 2008
Personal information
Born (1979-10-25) 25 October 1979
Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 101 kg (15 st 13 lb) [1]
Playing information
Position Second-row, Lock

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2000–01 Sydney Roosters 13 1 0 0 4
2002–06 Parramatta Eels 112 28 0 0 112
2007–08 South Sydney Rabbitohs 34 7 0 0 28
2009–11 Castleford Tigers 60 23 0 0 92
Total 219 59 0 0 236
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007 Prime Minister's XIII 1 0 0 0 0
2006 NSW Country 1 0 0 0 0

Dean Richard Widders (born 25 October 1979) is an Indigenous Australian retired professional rugby league player.

Early life

Widders played his first game of rugby league at the age of six, he tried many other sports but excelled especially in rugby league. Widders was also an avid reader during his childhood, a skill that he continues to promote.

During Widders' teenage years he honed his rugby league skills and became well known in the local area as a lock playing for the Armidale Greens. During this time a Sydney Roosters selector flew to Armidale to see Widders' play. When Widders' was 14, in 1993, he was invited to a selection trial and proved to be one of the best players.

Playing career

In 1996, at the age of 17, Widders' moved to Sydney to play with the Sydney Roosters. In this year, he also captained an Aboriginal side.

Widders played in the NSW Premier League for the Roosters, occasionally playing in NRL matches. In 2002 Widders' signed with the Parramatta Eels, he finished with this club at the end of 2006.

Widders' was involved in a racial vilification incident in July 2005 when South Sydney Rabbitohs captain Bryan Fletcher racially abused him.[2] In 2006, he signed a three-year contract to play for the South Sydney Rabbitohs starting in 2007.

Castleford Tigers

Widders joined Castleford for the 2009 season. He played 19 times in his first season for the Tigers, scoring 6 tries.

Widders started 2010 in great fashion, scoring the final and clinching try away at Headingley in Castleford's opening game against the Leeds Rhinos. Widders picked up an injury and missed 2 months of the season but came back and played in an unfamiliar role of Stand-off, linking up with Rangi Chase.

Widders played in 2011 and had a good season, which was his final season at the Castleford Tigers. The club failed to make the play offs after a narrow defeat by Hull KR. Widders said his final goodbyes to the Castleford public in the last home game against Hull F.C.

Off-field

In 1997, Widders' returned to Duval High School in Armidale to complete his Higher School Certificate.

Widders' is very well respected in his hometown of Armidale, New South Wales: in 2004 he was awarded the NRL's Ken Stephens Medal for his positive work with youth in the community and in 2006 he was appointed to the Federal Government's National Indigenous Council. Widders is also an Ambassador for the National Aboriginal Sports Corporation Australia (NASCA).[3]

Career highlights

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Castleford Tigers First Team". web page. Castleford Tigers Rugby League Football Club Ltd. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "New Member Appointed to National Indigenous Council". Commonwealth Government. 19 June 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
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