Gareth Widdop reveals his advice for Dragons fullback Matt Dufty ahead of elimination final against Broncos
HAVING watched helplessly from the sidelines as his side fell to the Bulldogs, Dragons skipper Gareth Widdop recognised young fullback Matt Dufty needed help. The effect was clear.
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GARETH Widdop could see young fullback Matt Dufty was down on form and confidence. The moment came after the Dragons were thumped by Canterbury and Dufty was dropped to the bench to start the game.
An injured Widdop felt helpless. The Dragons skipper was sidelined with a shoulder injury as his side limped to the finals with just three wins from nine appearances.
He wanted to do something to inspire his side. Widdop grabbed Dufty in the Kogarah Oval dressing rooms and had a quiet word to the St George junior.
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“You need to improve your game because you’re a dangerous footballer,” Widdop told Dufty.
”When I come back I need to be at my best and do my role for the team and you need to be better.’’
“He is a pretty confident sort of kid. He wasn’t performing as well as we needed him to be performing.
“He had to let that game go pretty quickly. He was very disappointing.
“It was one of those games that weren’t acceptable as a group, a team or an individual. We couldn’t get it back and we had to let it go. It was about what was the next best thing to do and that was looking at where we needed to improve on and fix that.”
Dufty produced a better performance in the Dragons’ 24-14 last start win against Newcastle where he returned to the starting position. He ended his five game scoring drought ahead of his first finals game against Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
“Even a lot of our experienced guys haven’t played finals,” Widdop said. “I’ll tell them to enjoy it and embrace it. These opportunities don’t come around very often and I told them go out there and do your job.
“You don’t want to walk off that ground with regrets wanting to have worked a bit harder.”
Widdop makes his return after missing three games with a shoulder injury. He spent those matches sidelined sitting with coach Paul McGregor on game day.
“It’s frustrating sitting in the coaches box,” Widdop said. “You see everything from a distance. When you’re not playing for a few weeks you sit back and you can see why we haven’t been playing well.
“We’ve been letting ourselves down. When you sit back you can see the effort areas that you notice (are missing) and they are the things you pick up on and they are the things you can’t afford not to have.
“I sit in the box to keep warm. It’s too cold on the sidelines.”
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Originally published as Gareth Widdop reveals his advice for Dragons fullback Matt Dufty ahead of elimination final against Broncos