Allen extends his stay with Vikings (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Dave Allen extends his stay with Widnes Vikings

3:29pm Friday 26th October 2012 in Vikings news

DAVE Allen has signed a contract extension, keeping him at Widnes Vikings until the end of the 2014 Super League season.

Having started his professional career at Wigan, Dave made his Super League debut for the Warriors in the same game that fellow Viking Kevin Brown also announced his arrival in the top flight, in April 2003.

After 3 seasons at Wigan, the classy second rower joined his hometown club Widnes and made his initial debut for the Vikings in February 2006, before moving on to pastures new and enjoying successful spells with both Oldham and Barrow in 2009.

Always keen to return home, the Ireland international declined the invitation to extend his stay with the Raiders and returned for a second spell with Widnes ahead of the 2010 Co-operative Championship season.

Now aged 27, the former Fairfield High School pupil admits he was only too keen to put pen to paper and prolong his stay at the Vikings, commenting; “I’m absolutely made up to have signed a new deal at the club.

“Widnes is my hometown team and I’ve never had any intention of moving elsewhere, so tying myself to the club until the end of 2014 was an easy decision to reach.

“Personally, I’m really enjoying my rugby at the moment and I’m already feeling confident about how we will perform as a team next year.

“Just being around the place at the moment, there’s a really good vibe and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction and collectively, we are all keen to put a few wrongs right in 2013.”

In 2012’s Stobart Super League campaign, Allen made 26 appearances for the club on its return to the top flight, and his efforts in a Vikings jersey week in week out certainly made an impression on his Head Coach Denis Betts, who added; “Over the past few years, Dave has proven in the Championship competition that he is a Super League player and last season he was definitely one of our stand out performers.

"He went into 2012 desperate to prove a point and he did that, and truly warmed to the full-time Super League environment.

“Dave is a player who turns up and performs in every single game and continually proves his worth to both the team and the organisation, and we were always keen to offer him an extension to his current contract.

“As a coaching staff and as a club, we think a great deal of Dave and we are delighted that he will remain a part of our group.”