Is this former baggage handler the Jamie Vardy of Super League?

Like Leicester City in the Premier League, unfancied Widnes Vikings have found themselves top of the Super League table thanks to ten tries in six games from former baggage handler Corey Thompson.

“They’re kicking Hull to death!”

Sublime commentary from the Sky Sports team on Thursday night as Widnes Vikings wing Stefan Marsh crossed for his team’s third try – the second in quick succession from the boot of captain Kevin Brown.

Marsh’s try came during a frenzy of first-half scoring for Widnes after they had endured an early onslaught from the visitors. Three disallowed first half tries seemed to knock the wind out of Hull FC’s sails and the Vikings plundered their way to a 24-6 halftime lead – a scoreline which blew out to 46-6 by the final whistle.

This was Widnes’ fifth win in six Super League games so far, a record few would have expected at the start of the season. In the four years since their return to the Super League in 2012 the Vikings have finished 14th, 10th, 8th and 9th. After thumping Hull FC Thursday night they sit clear at the top of the table. Are Widnes doing a Leicester City?

They have a clear Jamie Vardy in new winger Corey Thompson, who has come from nowhere (well, the NRL) to lead the league in tries this season. The 25-year-old from Brisbane played two seasons with the Bulldogs before joining the Vikings at the start of the Super League season. His two against Hull brought his season try tally to 10 in six games – he got a hattrick against Leeds, and has bagged braces in his last three games against Huddersfield, Hull KR and Hull FC.
Like Vardy, Thompson was a relatively late bloomer in rugby league – he was working as a baggage handler at Brisbane Airport and playing Queensland state league when he got the call-up from the Bulldogs in 2013. He went on to make 35 first team appearances for the Sydney club, scoring 15 tries.

He looks set to overtake that tally within weeks at his new club. He has formed an instant and deadly combination with Widnes’ veteran stand-off Kevin Brown, whose perfectly-weighted kicks into the corners he seems to find himself on the end of time and time again.

Widnes’ Select Security Stadium, with its glistening artificial turf and clusters of supporters huddled tight in the stands, might seem a world away from the Bulldogs’ 84,000-capacity home ground ANZ Stadium, but Corey Thompson has quickly made himself at home. Vikings fans – 4,735 of them at the ground on Thursday night – must already be hoping he never leaves.