Widnes are in absolute turmoil right now. Toxic culture, a coach under massive pressure, and a fanbase already sharpening the pitchforks. It’s eerily similar to what we went through under Mark Dunning in 2023. That said, they always seem to lift when they play us, and we’ve often struggled to match their intensity. Let’s not forget they did the double over us last season. We’re not exactly flying ourselves, but if we stick to the basics and play with a bit of discipline, there’s no reason we shouldn’t come away with the win.

Patton will either be amazing or absolutely dreadful. Unfortunately Ant Walker is no longer a Viking.

Shame Walker has gone.  He was entertaining to watch from an opposition point of view.   I think I've only seen Patton have an amazing game a handful of times (at most), usually early in the season.  I don't think he'll figure much this weekend.  

So Rodgers and Carr have been recalled by Hudds and Waine and Taufua in the 21 man squad.
I don’t expect Taufua to play and fortunately we have kept hold of Doro for another week.

Trips to Widnes have haunted us and before today we’d only won twice there since 2015. In a league where we've been hit and miss I'm happy we have banked the win and move on. Similar issues as most weeks. Not respecting the ball and losing possession in key areas. Armitage's offload in our own half with the game on the line in the second half was horrendous. We also seem to have these mental switch-off moments during games. Too often we lack focus in key areas. Widnes can't buy a win at the moment and threw a lot at us at times but we seemed to deal with the majority of it. Special Agent Dec Patton was up to his old tricks. He is clueless.


Some great individual efforts from Holmes, Hooley andd Okunbor (making up for his earlier errors). Potential banana skin avoided.

First half our defence was poor and we conceded some soft tries off the back of some lazy defending allowing Widnes good yardage. Woke up a little in the final 15 minutes but still blew some good position.


2nd half defence was much better and with some actual aggression. Still a few brainfarts that would see us punished against better opposition but we made it over the line. Part way through the first half I thought it was the Barrow game repeating itself and we would leave ourselves too much to do. The try just before HT was massive.


Plenty to work on but any win at this stage of the season is a good one even if it wasnt as comfortable as perhaps it could have been with a little more composure.