Just two injury worries for Widnes as Betts explains pre-season plan

James Gordon

Widnes coach Denis Betts has injury worries over just two players as they count down to their Super League opener against Catalans on February 4.

The Vikings played their final pre-season game against Whitehaven on Friday night, winning 62-0.

Forwards Gil Dudson (back) and Alex Gerrard (calf) are Betts’ only injury concerns, though he is looking forward to welcoming Papua New Guinea duo Wellington and Stanton Albert.

Betts said: “We’ve got a couple of front rowers that won’t start the season because of injuries, and a couple coming in that will hopefully give us some big punch.

“We got what we wanted. I’ve looked at our friendlies over the last three or four years and I’m not really sure what we got out of them.

“We’ve beaten St Helens a couple of times in pre-season and give it a good go with a couple of young kids in there, but we’ve also suffered with injuries from pre-season games.

“We’re in pretty good shape now. We’ve got two blokes sat in the stand, Gil is just coming back from a back operation and Alex who is just getting right from a calf strain.”