Our popular feature returns this week to review last Sunday’s victory at Halifax, looking at squad availability, milestones and a stats update ahead of next Monday’s game at Dewsbury.
INJURY UPDATE
This week sees us travel to the Tetley’s Stadium to entertain Dewsbury Rams in Round Four of the Betfred Championship campaign. Monday night will see us compete in the first of three consecutive Monday night fixtures live on Premier Sports. The Vikings will be boosted by the return of long-term absentees Shane Grady and Ste Tyrer, who will be available for selection after missing the first three rounds of the season.
Dec Gregory returned to training at the back end of last week and could come into contention if selected this week.
Ollie Brookes and Owen Farnworth also returned to running at the latter end of the week in the lead up to the Halifax game. They will face further fitness tests to determine their availability for Monday night.
We will still be without fullback Jack Owens who is continuing his rehab programme with lead Strength and Conditioning coach Bob Beswick. Jack will be re-assessed on a weekly basis by the medical staff who will determine his return to play date.
Danny Craven sustained a slight hamstring injury in the first half against Halifax, and he will be assessed through the week and will be given until Friday to prove his fitness.
MILESTONES
Ryan Ince will make his 50th Widnes appearance in the Dewsbury game this Sunday, rejoined from Oldham for 2022.
Danny Craven still needs five points to hit 400 for his career, and Olly Davies needs four to reach 100.
One try from Matty Smith will take him to 50 for his career.
STATS UPDATE
- The Vikings made 326 tackles in the Halifax game, compared to 289 against London and 293 against Workington.
- Aaron Brown made 46 tackles on Sunday, the most of any Widnes player.
- Aaron Brown, Matty Fozard and Olly Davies made 40% of all of Widnes’ tackles against Halifax (Aaron Brown – 46 – 14%, Matty Fozard – 42 – 13%, Olly Davies – 41 – 13%).
- The forwards took 97 of the 167 carries Widnes made on Sunday.
- Ryan Ince took the most carries in the game (23).
- Widnes started more sets (14) in the opposition half than Halifax (6).
- The Vikings had 42 sets, while the hosts had 36. Both teams made seven errors each.
