Salford play their second friendly match of the month against perennial top 4 favourites, Warrington this weekend.
The Red Devils will be hoping to build on their outing last week against Swinton, where they ran out comfortable winners, 50-12.
It appears that there is almost a full squad to choose from, however Kris Brining who is still recovering from a neck problem will be rested again as a precaution and Ryan Lannon will be serving his 2nd of a 3 match ban.
Ian Watson appears to be happy with his forward pack and has picked the same starting forward line as he did last week.
In the backs, Rob Lui is set to start alongside Gareth O’Brien in the halves with sponsors and fans man of the match against Swinton, Jack Littlejohn dropping to the Interchange bench. Manu Vatuvei and Derell Olpherts will start on the wings, in place of Jake Bibby who will move to the centres, and Greg Johnson.
Once again, it’s expected that the majority of the squad will get a run out at some point.
For the home team, many of the away supporter’s eyes will be on Ben Murdoch Massilla who moved the short distance West on the M62, to sign for The Wire during the close season.
The Wolves fans will be hoping to see those barnstorming runs that SRD fans became accustomed to during the 2017 season. As ever, their squad looks exceptionally strong on paper, but they will need to ensure they avoid a repeat of what happened last year.
The Red Devils will be confident they can do well this weekend, having beaten Warrington home and away last season.
The Wolves have to greatly improve if they want to challenge for honours, after an extremely disappointing 2017, finishing in the bottom 4 and having to go through the ignominy of the qualifiers to ensure their Super League status.
Ian Watson will be hoping the team get another good run out and performance, while balancing that with trying to keep his squad injury free and ready for the season opener against Wigan 2 weeks on Friday.
Starting Line up: Niall Evalds, Derrell Olpherts, Jake Bibby, Junior Sa’u, Manu Vatuvei, Rob Lui, Gareth O’Brien, Lee Mossop, Josh Wood, Lama Tasi, Josh Jones, Weller Hauraki, Tyrone McCarthy.
Interchanges: Greg Johnson, Kris Welham, Jack Littlejohn, Craig Kopczak, Logan Tomkins, George Griffin, Mark Flanagan, Luke Burgess, Ben Nakubuwai, Levy Nzoungou, Dan Murray, Gavin Bennion
Warrington:
Full Squad: Ryan Atkins, Kevin Brown, Mitch Brown, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Bryson Goodwin, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Jack Johnson, Luis Johnson, George King, Tom Lineham, Harvey Livett, Pat Moran, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Joe Philbin, Taylor Prell, Stefan Ratchford, Matty Russell, Morgan Smith.
Check out this weeks podcast below we speak to Dawn Fidler and Hanna Fendall 2 of the new directors of the club about their vision for the club, interviews with Dan Murray Koppy, Nial Evalds and Derrell Olpherts who give us their views on the Swinton game and the Warrington game to come.
A cracking show tune in below
Pictures by Steve McCormick
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