Championship outfit Widnes Vikings have confirmed the departure of Reagan Sumner, who only joined the club ahead of this season from Wigan Warriors.
Sumner, who turned 21 last month, featured twice for Widnes as a loanee last season – playing against both Wakefield Trinity and Toulouse Olympique.
Having also played a game as a loanee for Barrow Raiders at the beginning of 2024, Sumner’s senior appearance tally sat at six come the end of the 2024 campaign.
The outside-back went on to link up with the Vikings on a permanent basis, but has not registered an appearance for Allan Coleman’s side to date in 2024, and has now seen his release confirmed.
Born and raised in Wigan, Sumner played his junior rugby league for local sides Ince Rose Bridge and Wigan St Judes before joining the Warriors‘ youth ranks.
In addition to Barrow and Widnes, he also has first-team appearances on his CV for Workington Town and York – making his senior bow for the latter in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals back in 2023.
As the Vikings announced his departure, head coach Coleman said: “I want to thank Reagan for his services.
“We’d identified him as one for the future, but ultimately, what he wants is game time.
“With Ryan Ince back fit now as well as Mike Butt and Rhys Williams, it was going to be really difficult for him to get that game time (here).
“I am very big on the development of young players, but unfortunately he’s not getting that game time for us at the moment and the last thing I would want is for him to not be enjoying his rugby.
“We’ve got to do right by him and I think the right thing is to let him move on.”
Super League Las Vegas clash sets Sky Sports viewing figures record as BBC figure also smashed
Super League is experiencing a boom already from Las Vegas.
The historic Super League clash between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas yielded the highest-ever peak for a regular-season fixture excluding during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Warriors and the Wolves were given the honour of being the first Super League teams to walk out and play a fixture at Allegiant Stadium – with the hope being that it would not only raise interest in the competition worldwide, but back at home in the UK, too.
And the early evidence suggests that looks likely to be the case, with viewing figures booming over the weekend as crowds also continue to rise.
Wigan versus Warrington peaked at 340,000 viewers at one stage during the broadcast. Only one Super League regular season game – during the pandemic, when supporters were not allowed inside stadia – has attracted a bigger number in the competition’s 30-year history.
But the good viewing figures do not end there. Earlier on Saturday, Wakefield Trinity hosted St Helens live on the BBC and that figure attracted a peak audience share for the time-slot of 6 per cent – the highest a BBC Super League fixture has ever generated.
Round 3 attracted viewing figures in excess of a million for the first time since the opening round three years ago – while digital impressions and social media interactions have also risen from Vegas.
Super League say that the competition’s channels online attracted 18.2million impressions: the most ever for a regular season round by a staggering 59 per cent.
Attendances are trending at 15 per cent higher than last year – though that is slightly inflated due to the inclusion of the Vegas crowd of over 45,000. But digital impressions and social media engagements are all tracking at record numbers, indicating that the competition’s profile is on the rise.
And attention now turns to 2026: with all 12 Super League clubs invited to apply for Las Vegas if they wish to be on the billing.
“We’ve already started thinking about how best to build on this success in 2026, inviting all the Betfred Super League clubs to consider the possibility of applying to represent our competition on the unique Las Vegas stage,” RL Commercial CEO Rhodri Jones said.
“That process will continue in the coming weeks with ourselves, Wigan and Warrington sharing our experiences, and we will also work closely with the NRL as they consider plans for 2026.”
Leave a Reply