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Gareth Widdop's NRL feats mean he deserves a better farewell than a lowly ranked clash between St George Illawarra and Gold Coast.

By his own admission, it would have been the easy option for Gareth Widdop not to run out for the final seven weeks of St George Illawarra's season.

The victim of three separate shoulder dislocations in the past 13 months, the Dragons' season was already gone when he return from his latest surgery.

And after spending the majority of the season on the sideline with his latest injury, Widdop had very little tangible reward to gain by returning when he did in round 19.

"The easy option could have been to just put the cue in the rack and wait until next year," Widdop told AAP.

"I could easily have done that and given myself an extra couple of weeks and play finals.

"Just train and recover, that way you're no chance of getting injured again and redoing it. It would have been the easy way.

"But being the captain of the club and obviously the jersey means a lot to me, I wanted to get back and put it on."

Widdop's return, after originally being expected to miss the rest of the season when he was hurt in round three, says more about him than anything else.

It's why an underwhelming farewell in the least anticipated match of the year against the Gold Coast on Saturday is hardly a fair one.

Without doubt one of the stars of this decade, Widdop's entry and exit from the NRL haven't been fitting.

He debuted for Melbourne just days after the salary cap scandal broke in 2010 and will exit after the Dragons endured a year to forget.

But between that he won a premiership with the Storm in 2012, reignited the Dragons' attack on his arrival there in 2014 and was Dally M five-eighth of the year in 2017.

Owing to his versatility, it was in that same year he carried England's World Cup campaign from fullback as they returned to the final and challenged Australia.

"I've been quite fortunate over my career to win a grand final, a World Club Challenge and play in some big games," Widdop said of his 194-game career.

"Frustrating is the best word to use (to describe 2019), with everything. Getting through two lots of rehab has been difficult.

"But sometimes in life it's the way it is. You want that fairytale ending but it wasn't to be."

Saturday's game will also mark the end of the road for veteran Gold Coast fullback Michael Gordon and Dragons journeyman Jeremy Latimore.

Gordon will stay in the game with a final season with his junior club at the Tweed Coast Raiders, while Latimore will take up a career in mortgage broking after years of being a director on the players' union.

STATS THAT MATTER

* Gold Coast's four wins make for their wost season on record

* Dragons have scored at least 40 in their past three games against Titans,

* The Dragons and Titans are ranked 15th and 16th for points and linebreaks conceded

*Stats: Fox Sports Stats