Thanks for the reply guys.
As I step though some code I am seeing the deactivate() function being after the item click.
It all stems back to the "onPanelClick" event in the PanelManager class.
I did a few hacks when creating our theme and I think I have to look how I add widgets to the application.
Basically I was using a shared panel for many widgets and it seems that may not be possible.
Thanks for the suggestions
Drew