![\"Widnes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1__OHO0361.jpg\")
Widnes Vikings have not played in Super League since 2018.<\/p>\nThe Vikings have released an overseas player – and have confirmed their intention to bring in a replacement.<\/p>\n
21:21, 06 Jan 2026Updated 21:23, 06 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
Widnes Vikings have not played in Super League since 2018.<\/p>\n
Widnes Vikings star Jake Maizen has been granted a release from the club, who will look to recruit a replacement in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
The Vikings have confirmed that Maizen recently approached the club to request a release – one they ‘reluctantly’ accepted – and will move back to his homeland Australia.<\/p>\n
An Italian international, the 29-year-old joined Widnes midway through the 2025 season after spells in the UK game at Whitehaven and Halifax Panthers. He played for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup prior to moving to England and scored five tries in nine games for the Vikings.<\/p>\n
In a club statement, Widnes wrote: \u201cJake approached us to request a release from his contract in order to return home to Australia, which has been reluctantly accepted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club made every effort to support Jake during his time with the Vikings, and while we are disappointed to see him leave, we respect his decision and thank him for his efforts throughout his spell at Widnes Vikings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club is actively seeking a replacement for Jake, and we are hoping to confirm a new signing in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone at Widnes Vikings wishes Jake all the very best for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his departure from Widnes, Maizen said: \u201cThank you to the board and the fans for welcoming me into such a great club. I have nothing but positive memories of my time at Widnes and wish the club success in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head Coach, Allan Coleman added: \u201cWe respect Jake\u2019s decision, but naturally we\u2019re very disappointed. I\u2019ve been chasing him for a couple of years, and we tried so hard to get him in, so with the way it\u2019s ended up, it\u2019s obviously disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, I wish him nothing but the best with his family and newborn baby. I totally understand his reasons for leaving, but obviously, when things get taken out of your hands, it\u2019s frustrating to lose a player like Jake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Widnes confirmed the signing of former North Wales Crusaders forward Jack Houghton this week.<\/p>\n
The Vikings, who finished seventh in the Championship last season and haven’t played in Super League since 2018, open their account at highly fancied London Broncos next Sunday – January 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vikings have released an overseas player – and have confirmed their intention to bring in a replacement.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-396191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}