Heremaia excited by Leigh reunion

Aaron Heremaia is hoping that Widnes can record their third successive home victory when they take on former club Leigh on Thursday.

Heremaia played for the Centurions in the National League in 2006, before spells at New Zealand Warriors, Hull FC and finally Widnes.

The 34-year old said: “I always look out for this fixture – the Leigh fans are similar to ours, as they are very passionate.

“That passion is replicated on the field with their players, so I can’t wait for the game. Their forwards are very aggressive and they have a great half back in Josh Drinkwater, who controls the game well.

“They have dangers across the park and we’re going to have be on our game if we want to win.”

Leigh head into the game on the back of an outstanding 50-34 win over local rivals Wigan two weeks ago and Heremaia believes that result will have lifted their spirits.

“They’ll definitely be coming here with lots of confidence,” he added. “They battered Wigan, and they’ll be coming here confident – but so are we. We’ve had a great month and we can’t wait to get back out there.”

The Vikings announced their 19-man squad earlier this week, and saw the return of the likes of Joe Mellor and Lloyd White.

The hooker says their experience will be vital as the team targets another home success.

“It’s a great boost to have the likes of Joe and Lloyd back in the squad,” he said.

“But that means that some good players have had to miss out this week. Denis (Betts) has made us all aware that if we don’t play well, there are people waiting in the wings to take our spot, so we need to perform well.

“Home games are always important, and every team wants to make their home stadium a fortress.

“Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to do that earlier in the year, but after a couple of wins recently, we’re looking to build on this momentum in the remaining stages of this campaign.”