The new Championship season is little over a month away and Widnes are starting to build some momentum with a raft of announcements in recent weeks.
A new club crest is now proudly adorned on the new home and away kits for the new season, supplied by new apparel partner Debeau Performance. A pre-season friendly away at Warrington has been announced, together with details of the club’s plans to apply for an elite academy, announcing their Under 19s squad in the meantime.
The first team have been back in training for several weeks, with the squad currently 26 in number.
All the controversy surrounding the Championship format, together with the uncertainty around Salford and Featherstone, perhaps makes it more difficult to assess just where everybody is at going into the new campaign. Those ongoing discussions make it a challenge for new betting sites to plot who the favourites might be.
There will be a top 10 play-off this season, and failing to make that would be a disaster for Widnes.
Fixture format
Widnes effectively have the fourth toughest fixture list on paper owing to their finish in last season’s Championship, though both Salford and Featherstone have tougher lists, and they are likely to be behind the eight-ball in terms of recruitment and may even both have points deductions.
That’s a contrast to Widnes, who have a relatively settled squad, and within the eight new signings are three who had previously played for the club before anyway.
Widnes’ 12 opponents home and away are based on a formula on last season’s league positions, which disappointingly means no trip to Batley. Although there were two supposedly geographical opponents to supplement the 10 fixtures based on league position, Widnes have been paired with London and North Wales. That makes the fixture list even tougher, with London the favourites to win the Championship and North Wales winning League One last year.
Whoever got paired with London was always going to be unhappy, and based on who they would be facing within the 10 league-based fixtures anyway, Widnes were probably next in line.
Whitehaven’s local games are Barrow and North Wales, Midlands’ are Oldham and Workington and Newcastle’s are Barrow and Batley. Everybody else seems to have got relatively decent pairings.
Can anyone compete with London?
An outside shot for a Super League place, London might well have got the nod to be in the top flight in 2026 but for Toulouse’s Championship Grand Final win making it impossible to leave the French side out. Taken over by a consortium led by Australia legend Darren Lockyer and coached by former Widnes favourite Jason Demetriou, it is clear London only plan on being in the Championship for one season; notwithstanding the fact there still hasn’t been any confirmation how any promotion spots, if any, will work. There are going to yet further changes to the IMG system, amidst talk of automatic promotion and relegation returning.
Either way would suit London. They have recruited a strong team for this level, and Widnes will only hope to catch them cold at the Cherry Red Records Stadium in the opening game of the season. But as London themselves have proven, with their Grand Final victory away at Toronto Wolfpack, anything can happen in the play-offs, and it might be up to the likes of Widnes and Oldham to spoil what many are predicting will be a London juggernaut rip-roaring through the competition as Wakefield did back in 2024.
Question marks over 1895 Cup and play-offs
The exact format of the 10-team play-offs has yet to be revealed, although it is expected to last over four weekends. The regular season finishes August 30, and the Grand Final is scheduled for October 4.
There are increasing doubts over the 1895 Cup, with Derek Beaumont’s AB Sundecks threatening to withdraw their sponsorship of the competition if the final is moved from Wembley. Partners from inception, Beaumont argues that moving the final from Wembley – despite its rather awkward start time of after the men’s Challenge Cup final – devalues the competition ergo the sponsorship. There had previously been reports the final will be held at Wakefield, which is also hosting the Championship’s season launch event.
There are some gaps in the calendar that presumably will accommodate rounds of the 1895 Cup, if it goes ahead. The weekends 18/19 April, 16/17 May, 4/5 July are currently blank, together with 7/8 February and 14/15 March, though these are for the early rounds of the Challenge Cup.
What is happening with Salford?
Salford entered liquidation barely 24 hours after the Championship fixture list was revealed. The nature of the fixture format means it is not easy to just lose a club from the fixture list, though it appears the RFL have always been confident that a Salford in one form or another will take to the field in 2026. Three consortia currently pulling bids together to submit to the RFL for approval. Featherstone are another club with financial troubles, though again they are expected to be there in some form.
Teams who face Salford early in the season may feel the benefit, with the Red Devils due to bring the curtain down on the whole season on Friday January 16 at home to Oldham.
