VIKINGS boss Denis Betts says his team’s gruelling on-the-road pre-season schedule at Warrington, St Helens and Castleford will have brought big benefits for the team ahead of the Super League XX opener a week on Thursday.

Although Vikings were edged out by two points at a muddy Castleford on Sunday, Betts drew plenty of positives from that final warm-up game that tees them up perfectly for the Wigan clash on February 5.

Not the least of those plus points was the display from former Wigan front-rower Gil Dudson, with the Welshman making a big impact on debut and he will only get better with match fitness.

Betts said “Gil was solid and knows he’s got through lots of work and he’s not really done a lot during pre-season or highly involved with Wigan and what they were doing.

“He’s had three weeks with us and his first big challenge was today.

“He hit the line well, fell on his front and bent his back in defence.

“It’s just a matter of blowing off the cobwebs and you don’t do that without getting a bit dirty. I was very happy with him today.”

All of Vikings pre-season games have been away from the i-Pitch, which was a deliberate strategy to take the team away from their comfort zone – and they can be pleased with the results of two losses and a win against top ranking Super League opposition.

Speaking at Castleford, Betts explained: “The idea behind out pre-season games away from home against some real tough opposition was because we wanted to be uncomfortable here.

“A lot of players in small changing rooms, it’s been really wet over here, the pitch is claggy and that’s something we’re not used to.

“The start of the year is going to be tough, some wet games and some big environments so we just wanted to be mentally tough in the way we prepared for these games.”