ive just noticed that your forum has been moved up in the Super League section, welcome to the top table

Thanks very much for that its nice to be in touch with the local enemy, and hope your not to harsh on us in the local darbys.........

ha i dont much fancy your chances next year (it will take more than one winter of rebuilding to bridge the gap between mid table in the championship to the super league) but its a 3 year license and (even with our rivalry) id like to see a strong, competitive widnes back and established in the top flight

I don't fancy our chances next year much myself but you never know.Apart from having a very average squad in place so far Widnes will also be handicapped by having Denis Betts at the helm.Apparently he deserves a chance to prove himself at SL level which seems illogical after his poor record at Championship standard last season.I have never before heard of a SL club appointing a coach who has previously demonstrated mediocrity at a lower level.

Welcome up from a Hull KR fan, still remember how I felt when KR were moved up with the big boys! saddo Aren't I!! Didn't think I would ever see the day.

Welcome its great to see somebody moving up and a new fixture in the calendar. I hope you go well and of course give your neighbours a bloody nose

Cheers peeps - it's gonna be a helluva ride!

How do you know that it is an average squad, and how do you know that we will be handicapped by having DB as coach when we have seen neither the team nor the coaching performance in SL?

Thanks, however, to all the fans from other clubs who have welcomed us back into SL. It is a three year building curve, but I think that if the fans get behind the team and the coach we will do reasonable well.

Oh dear Old Viking, you don't know your rugby.Widnes will be taking a full pack of forwards up to SL from the Championship, and the Championship is average standard to say the least.In my opinion the team will be disadvantaged by Betts being in charge.There is no crystal ball but what's the probability?So what you are saying is that someone who has just failed their driving test ought to be given a chance at formula one ?
Anyway,apologies for bringing a negative angle to the thread people.I won't bother going over old ground again.Thanks for the good wishes.
Up the Chemics!

Ben Cross, Jon Clarke, Ben Davies, Hep Cahill, Chris Dean, Frank Wintetstein

Their you go a pack of current SL

don't get the issue really we need a lot of numbers in the pack! In Haggerty & Leuluai we have two bright young back rowers with plenty of development in them, Finnigan has plenty of SL experience and Pickers one of best props in champ (gets a lot of blame for stuff that's not actually him!). Would still like another old headed tough prop to compliment rest of the squad though.

I've just noticed that the Crusaders forum has disappeared completely. Are they in the championship next season or what?

They have had to apply for championship 1 but as of yet its in the air.

Crusaders and Toulouse are currently in "Other" or whatever its called.

lol why? to show you how its done?

Saturday 23rd July 2011 - Round: Quarter Final
Warrington Wolves 24 - 44 Wigan Warriors

Get back in your trophy cabinet, theres plenty room.

I dont think you can read much into last season. I reckon its like the last week in work before you leave for a new higher profile job, you try and work hard and do your best but really you cant be d and just wanna get the hell out of there

I think that you are right. We knew quite early on that we were going into SL for definite. Most of the players knew that they were not going there with us.

But there were contracts up for grabs and I remain very disappointed in how certain players performed because of that.

There was certainly an element of apathy. It does come down to the "leaving job" scenario but at the end of the day all those players didn't have jobs, most of them were putting themselves on show for the clubs in the championship or playing for a widnes contract.

Though the big performance drops did come AFTER the players were told yay or nay?

nay. I don't think so at all. Those last few games were amongst our worst performances that's true but if we're being honest we weren't good early on in the season either. We hit a bit of a run of form, then we lost a few close games to decent opposition and lost confidence.

But like I say, if they'd been told "yay or nay" they were in the shop window then, they should have been playing their heart out.

So do I. There was room for some stand out performances, particularly towards the end of the season, but it appeared that some players had given up.