As we work towards an Elite Academy application for 2027, the Widnes Vikings Under 19s squad has been revealed for 2026.<\/p>\n
Head Coach Steve Tyrer and Future Vikings lead Danny Durbin welcomed the squad to the club last week and they enjoyed their first training session alongside the first team on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
The side will train regularly alongside the first team in 2026, providing a pathway for the young players to impress Allan Coleman and work their way up to the professional game.<\/p>\n
Tyrer, who made 78 appearances for the Vikings in three separate spells before retiring as a player in 2022, was previously part of Coleman\u2019s backroom staff before switching his attention to the club\u2019s youth development programme.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming. We\u2019ve been wanting to tap in to the talent in the town for a long and it\u2019s finally coming together. We\u2019ve already got two lads training with the first team on a trial basis, and it shows there\u2019s a genuine pathway for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis club has been built on really good local talent and we\u2019re hoping to dig in to that. Every lad in the first team now has come through a system, and Widnes don\u2019t have one now, so we have to put one back in to this town. If this is the start, hopefully in a few years there\u2019ll be lads who\u2019ve come through playing every week for the first team and that\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
The majority of the squad still qualify as Under 18s players, so provides a solid base for two seasons at this level as the club seeks to re-establish its Elite Academy via the RFL\u2019s application process.<\/p>\n
As well as training alongside the first team on the pitch at the DCBL Stadium, the Under 19s will have access to the gym and players\u2019 room at the Vikings.<\/p>\n
Durbin added: \u201cWidnes is a place that\u2019s full of talent in general, and I think some of the boys are already catching the eye of the first team coaches and that\u2019s the goal really.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have done a lot of work behind the scenes putting an elite academy application together, that\u2019s all submitted and it\u2019s all very good and very positive, so we\u2019ll see where we go from here. This is our next step along that path.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to get as many of these guys playing for the first team as we can. We\u2019re here to give them opportunities and to make sure they get the chance to fulfil their potential. Training sometimes with the first team and sometimes on the same pitch, is a unique opportunity in rugby league.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is to have 10-12 games this year against teams of a similar stature to us, Championship grade teams and a few university games as well. Our vision is to progress these boys and this team to a bit more in the future, and that\u2019s down to everyone at the club as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widnes Vikings Under 19s squad and their community clubs<\/p>\n
Charlie Bailey \u2013 Latchford Giants<\/p>\n
Zack Bennett \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Mason Bowles \u2013 Thatto Heath<\/p>\n
Stephen Charnley \u2013 Leigh Miners<\/p>\n
Seb Coram \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Jake Critchley \u2013 Thatto Heath<\/p>\n
Harrison Dickinson \u2013 Newton Storm<\/p>\n
Jason Franklin \u2013 Woolston Rovers<\/p>\n
Charlie Groake \u2013 Woolston Rovers<\/p>\n
Joe Heeney \u2013 West Bank Bears<\/p>\n
Jimmy Hodgekiss \u2013 Latchford Giants<\/p>\n
Dan Houghton \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Riley Hunt\u00a0 \u2013 West Bank Bears<\/p>\n
Seth Joyce\u00a0 \u2013 Shevington Sharks<\/p>\n
Tom Krause \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Oliver Mangan \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Eddie Matthews \u2013 Leigh Miners<\/p>\n
Kobe McKinnon \u2013 Thatto Heath<\/p>\n
Declan Rigby \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Charlie Roberts \u2013 Halton Farnworth Hornets<\/p>\n
Josh Rowe \u2013 Shevington Sharks<\/p>\n
Tom Rowe \u2013 Shevington Sharks<\/p>\n
Jackson Tuihalamaka \u2013 West Bank Bears<\/p>\n
Lucas Tuihalamaka \u2013 West Bank Bears<\/p>\n
Leon Walker \u2013 Blackbrook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we work towards an Elite Academy application for 2027, the Widnes Vikings Under 19s squad has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-299587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}