A lot of people will be aware of my writing and coverage of Leigh Centurions, but for the last 12 months I have also been volunteering at Radio General, Warrington Hospital’s very own radio station. This has involved me commentating on both Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves.
Here is my review of the last 12 months for Widnes Vikings.
Some pre-season predictions listed Widnes as favourites for the Co-operative Championship crown and the Vikings themselves were vocal about signing players on full-time contracts.
Widnes began their season with competitive friendly games against Whitehaven and Salford but the proper fixtures brought about a dramatic turn of events.
Paired against Oldham in their opening Northern Rail Cup game, the Vikings were beaten 22-20 and in a shock move parted company with boss Steve McCormack within 72 hours.
His assistant, highly rated John Stankevitch, who has now taken the reigns at Rochdale Hornets for 2010, was placed in charge. The Stankevitch influence was immediate; the club won four of their next five games. This included a resounding 70-0 win over Championship French new boys Toulouse Olympique. That night in front of the Sky cameras, Widnes were on fire and only on rare occasions rose to such heights again over the course of the season.
Widnes by this stage had turned to former Warrington favourite Paul Cullen and he took over team matters in preparation for the next game at Halifax. That was a game lost and initially Cullen struggled with results, overseeing three defeats from his first four matches and seven in his first twelve games in charge. This included conceding a double to Leigh and a heavy home loss at the hands of Barrow.
It was around this time that the club announced it had commenced night time training instead of during the daytime. For all intents and purposes the club had gone part-time once again. This change resulted in Stankevitch leaving, Mick Cassidy returning in a strength and conditioning role and Stuart Wilkinson moved up from a role overseeing the development of younger players to become Cullen’s assistant.
The Vikings also raided Super League to boost their squad with loan captures, these included Steve Tyrer (Celtic/St Helens), Craig Hall (Hull), Jon Grayshon (Harlequins), Kevin Penny and Steve Pickersgill (both Warrington) with varying success.
From June the Vikings didn’t look back with the corner being turned in the last twenty minutes against Championship One York in a Northern Rail Cup Quarter Final. Big wins followed in the league over Featherstone and Doncaster at the Stobart Stadium while thanks to an Anthony Thackeray hat-trick and in no small part to a touch of butter fingers from Ben Black, Widnes won at Halifax 27-22 to go into the Northern Rail Cup Final.
Their opponents in the final, Barrow, had not reached a final of a cup competition since beating Widnes in an early eighties Lancashire Cup and were overawed on the day. They reverted to some rough-house tactics that the Vikings soaked up before expansive rugby brought the Northern Rail Cup back to Widnes for the first time since 2007 and ensuring the Vikings can make another application for Super League when the Licenses become available again.
Penny led the way with two tries while others came from Richard Fletcher, man-of-the-match John Duffy, making his fourth Northern Rail Cup Final appearance, Toa Kohe-Love and Richard Varkulis. Hall kicked five goals.
With Penny, Pickersgill and Hall back in Super League another dip in the Vikings form saw them fall to fifth before a flourish against Whitehaven brought a resounding 58-10 win and fourth place after everyone had completed league fixtures.
Three weeks later it was play-off time and Whitehaven were again opposition. This time there was lots of Cumbrian grit and Widnes had to use all their know-how to win 26-21 in an excellent advert for the Championship.
Their reward was a home game against Featherstone who also had a decent end to the season. Rovers had knocked Sheffield out of the play-offs and with veteran Iestyn Harris in five star form from loose forward, they repeated the tonic at the Stobart Stadium.
In another ding-dong tie, Widnes had grabbed an early lead only for Featherstone to chase it down and edge in front at half-time. The teams traded a further two tries each with Rovers clinging to a 24-26 lead when an all or nothing play from the Vikings was spilled on the twenty metre line. From the resulting scrum and possession it was that man Harris who touched down to end Widnes’ season: a real rollercoaster from start to finish.
Paddy Flynn finished the year with an extended contract and as top try scorer with twenty while outgoing Tim Hartley was the teams top point scorer with 132 from 5 tries and 56 goals.
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