Doran admits Widnes envy

Former Widnes back-rower Lee Doran admits he has a touch of envy as he gets ready to watch some of his old team mates line up for the Vikings in their Super League opener against Wakefield.

Doran, 30, is now plying his trade in Championship 1 with Whitehaven, but was part of the Widnes team which won the Northern Rail Cup in 2009, a pivotal part in earning them the right to apply for a Super League licence.

That was his second Northern Rail Cup triumph with the Vikings, having also picked up a winners medal in 2007 against his current club, and he was the Vikings Player of the Year in 2010, featuring in the Championship Dream Team.

However, he was deemed surplus to requirements at the end of that season, and the former Oldham, Rochdale and Leigh man decided to make the move up to Cumbria.

He said: “It would have been nice to have been me (lining up for Widnes tonight), but a few things happened at the club that were out of my control, and that’s all I can say really!

“Paul Cullen has done a fantastic job at the club, he was a great coach for me and a fantastic person. There’s Mick Cassidy, who I’ve played alongside and been coached by, and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him, they are fantastic people.

“I’ve got some great friends at the club still, and I’ll be texting a few of the lads wishing them good luck. I hope they do well, the town deserves it.”

Of the players that featured alongside Doran in the 2009 Northern Rail Cup final, only Steve Pickersgill and Ben Kavanagh made it to Super League with the Vikings.

Winger Paddy Flynn and prop Anthony Mullally, who were both unused squad members on that day, are also in Widnes’ 25-man squad for 2012.