Where to begin with Dean Widders?
Eels supporters first came to know him as a highly skilled recruit from the Sydney Roosters. Accompanying his remarkable skill set was a versatility that would prove to be unrivalled in the NRL.
During his career, Dean started 11 games at centre, 20 games at five-eighth, 16 games in the second row, 25 games at lock, and, understandably, a whopping 149 games off the interchange.
That level of versatility means that you probably don’t get to own one position, but you’ll always be named in the top 17.
One look at his Eels record is evidence of this.
In his five years with Parra, Widders played 112 first grade games. That’s an average of just over 22 games per season. Such was his value to the team.
Dean arrived at the Eels in 2002, having debuted for the Roosters in 2000 against today’s opponents, the Tigers.
During his time at Parra, he scored 28 tries and was a crowd favourite for his impact on a game,. His injection into the fray from the interchange often changed the momentum in Parra’s favour.
Widders in action for Parra
Dean departed the Eels at the end of the 2006 season, finishing his NRL career at the Rabbitohs in 2008. He followed that up with three seasons at Castleford in the English Super League.
Representative honours first came in 1999 with selection for an Arthur Beetson coached Indigenous team that faced Papua New Guinea in Cairns. Widders scored a try off the interchange bench in the 32 to 10 victory.
Dean went on to play for Country Origin in 2006 and the Australian PM’s 13 in 2007.
A return to his beloved Eels did eventuate when Dean was appointed as the inaugural coach of the Eels NRLW team, a team he guided to the 2022 Grand Final.
Throughout his days on the field, and in his post playing career, Dean has actively worked with the Indigenous community.
A proud Anaiwan man, Widders currently works for the NRL as the Indigenous Programs Manager. This involves managing junior pathways programs, developing coaching programs, assisting grassroots clubs and governing bodies with their Indigenous programs in addition to providing cultural guidance for elite Indigenous players and NRL clubs.
Dean will be our first special guest in Parra Leagues for 2025 as we discuss the stories behind his career and preview the clash between the Eels and the Tigers.
See you in Sterlo’s on Sunday. The preview kicks off at 1:45pm.
Escape the heat and join us for an ice cold beverage in the home of the Eels, Parra Leagues.
See you there.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Wow! Looking fiorward to this. Loved watching Dean play. What a wonderful player he was for the Eels!!!!!
I’m looking forward to chatting with Dean. He was a genuine impact player for Parra and his versatility was extraordinary.
Loved his creativity with the ball in his hands – and deceptively quick from what I remember
Ben Smith owes alot of his tries in first grade to Dean Widders when he was playing with him. He set him up for so many.
We might have to ask Dean about that.
One of my favourite all time players. He could move for a big man and was light on his feet.
He almost always made a long range run off the bench.
What an excitement machine Dean was. Pure footballer and genuine game breaker.
Looking forward to the podcast gents. Thanks in advance to Dean, I’ve met him a couple of times, genuinely a top shelf man.
“Pure footballer, genuine game breaker” – I might have to borrow this line Joseph.
Joseph, you encapsulated my thoughts exactly, one of my all time favourite players. Him and Solomona (?) off the bench were a devastating pair.
Glenn, Solomona offered the same type of excitement, I loved watching him do his thing too.
These types of players are instinctive, you can’t coach against them. That’s what makes them so special.
I’m keen to talk to Dean about that
Dean Widders was definitely a favourite. He semed to always beat the first tackler.
I look forward to his thoughts on 2025 Eels.
I think I can fill you in there, his thoughts like everyone who watched today is how are we ever going to become relevant in the NRL again. We might have a war chest of money but we are now going to be the position where we will need to pay overs to keep any decent juniors coming through and to try and attract any new players to the club. We are in basket case territory sadly.
Oh well there’s always next year. (Eels motto)
Did anyone stay to watch? I imagine it must be very hard to try and drum up interest for this incompetent “team”. Hope it went well. At least you blokes are trying.
Very tough week again for us. Last week there could be a reason vs storm. This week we were somehow worse despite playing a much worse opposition. Brown looks like he didn’t want to be out there, I thought he was made of tougher stuff than that and with the contract announced he’d be able to get on with the job. Some of the senior forwards didn’t want to be out there either. Williams and Tuivaiti were the best out there today, we better get onto re-signing Tuivaiti quick because the more he plays the more other clubs are going to offer him (I thought we had learned our lesson with having young forwards off-contract, maybe not?)
Ryles had better hope he can pull something off soon because he got rid of 2 very good, experienced, players which we seem to be missing right about now. And yes I know Moses is out injured but a team shouldn’t be so reliant on 1 player.
Credit where it is due, I thought Samrani did okay in his debut and our back 5 seem to be willing to ruck the ball out. What I can’t understand though is we had 2 of the tallest players out on the right edge and only once very early in the game did we put a kick up for them to contest. There were a few other opportunities to kick high and instead we’d put in a grubber or nothing kick.