We’ve seen it all before – Widnes making a bright start to a season, getting hopes up, and then hitting a bump in the road that derails them for the rest of the year.

For a club of Widnes’ size, to have not made the play-offs since relegation from Super League at the end of 2018 is a failure despite being fancied to make it every year in all of the latest betting odds.

Allan Coleman will be hoping to put that right this year, and he was making great progress towards doing that before a recent run of one win in seven has seen the Vikings sucked back in to the battle for the top six.

A familiar story to Widnes’ season

There is growing concern that in spite of the off-field changes, different coaches and different players, the same pattern seems to be emerging year-on-year.

It is thought that under John Kear in 2023, significant disruption was caused by how contract renewals were handled mid-season, ultimately causing a collapse in form that cost the ex-Hull and Sheffield coach his job.

Prior to Kear, Simon Finnigan enjoyed a winning start to the 2022 season, winning the first four games of the season before then losing six in a row and then being relieved of his duties.

In 2019, under Kieron Purtill in a year that was understandably fractured due to administration, Widnes won seven of their first eight games, stretching that to nine of their first 11, yet still would have failed to make the play-offs even without a 12 point deduction.

Rugby league rules dictate that clubs must inform players by May 1st whether they seek to re-engage them for the following season. They then have permission to speak to other clubs.

Already we have seen Widnes lose Ant Walker and Kieran Dixon – who both opted to negotiate releases from the club after being told they weren’t wanted in 2025, and having gained interest from other clubs to take on their services.

Both players would have been assets to Widnes in 2024, where they were still under contract, but now the Widnes squad is two players lighter.

It’s fair enough that a coach decides he doesn’t want a player from the end of the year, but losing them for the current season is a blow.

However, it is surely now more than a coincidence that every season, Widnes’ on-field results appear to derail around this time suggesting that it is not being handled as well as it could.

Widnes’ win percentage in Championship games played prior to May 1st is 63% over the last three full seasons (2019, 2022 and 2023 – 2020 and 2021 were COVID hit). After May 1st, that percentage drops significantly to 39%.

This season, the win percentage prior to May 1st was 66%, whereas since, it currently stands at 33%.

What is the reason for Widnes’ mid-season drop off in form

With it being Coleman’s first year in the job, he won’t be aware of what happened in year’s previous and struggles to put his finger on why there’s been a drop off this year.

He said: “I’ll be honest, I don’t know. We agreed something at the beginning of the year about staying level, so we never got carried away when we were four from four, or when we were second, we just stayed level.

“When you get beat, you’ve got to stay level. I remember speaking to (Wigan coach) Matty Peet last year and he said his philosophy is even if you’re winning, don’t get carried away with your wins; but if you’re losing, don’t get carried away with losing. Just stay level, stay believing in what you think and something will trigger that.

“I know we’ve played a lot of clubs away around us and everyone’s coming and chasing us now, but clubs won’t be looking forward to coming to Widnes, we’ve just got to keep believing in us and staying level, and always believing what we’re capable of.

“I have no doubt that when we turn in an 80 minute performance, somebody’s going to get a good hiding. When that is going to happen, I don’t know, but we’re not a bad team, I know that, we just need to believe a bit more in ourselves.”

What other reasons can Widnes’ form be put down to?

Could injuries be a reason? Widnes had a fairly settled side in the early parts of the season, but have been disrupted by injuries and other absences recently.

What about squad depth? It seemed on paper that this year’s squad was weaker than in previous years, though they proved otherwise in the early months of the season. Maybe it’s a case of Widnes simply not having enough depth year on year to maintain consistency throughout the year, particularly with a largely failing and underwhelming dual-registration partnership with Warrington.

It might just be that, regardless of slump, Widnes are there or thereabouts where they should be.

The pre-season odds had Widnes in sixth place, which most fans would likely accept as it would at least mean a play-off game for the first time in the Championship since 2011.