Super League Magic Weekend - Sunday 20th May – St James’ Park KO 1:00PM
Catalans Dragons vs Salford Red Devils – Doom and gloom, or reasons for optimism? Richard Lowe picks through the last few weeks of Salford struggles and points to a potential silver lining over the Magic Weekend and beyond.
Salford travel to St James’ Park, Newcastle knowing that this is a must win game. Ian Watson and his side have come in for some criticism over the last couple of weeks. While it’s easy to see that frustration is playing a big part, the fans must understand there are a lot of reasons why this Salford team has come up short over the last 3 games.
Robert Lui. Since the ‘star man’ was injured in the win over Wakefield 4 games ago, the team has looked blunt in attack. The creativity that he brings to the team is highlighted now he is out of it. Effort and commitment will get you so far, but it’s the cutting edge that he provides that the Red Devils are really missing currently.
Other key injuries: Kris Brining, Manu Vatuvei, Josh Jones, Mark Flanagan, Lee Mossop, Niall Evalds and Rob Lui make up just some of the list of personnel who have been unavailable during the past 3 weeks. The coaching staff have had to make debutants of some of the loanees in the forward pack. While in the backline, trying to find the best combination of halfbacks and pivots that has seen Gareth O’Brien and Michael Dobson depart and Rob Lui and Niall Evalds injured was always going to be a difficult task. There is a lot to be said for being able to pick a relatively consistent side, something that Watson will be hoping he can return to as soon as possible.
Hard run of games. Playing St Helens, then going away to Wigan, followed by a rejuvenated Leigh at the LSV was never going to be easy. Add the comparative thinness of the squad available to Ian Watson and it’s obvious that this period was always going to be an uphill struggle.
With all that said, the season currently stands at a crucial point. The fans maybe need to look forward a little and focus on what could be a very good run in and another top 8 finish. There are several reasons to be optimistic:
Robert Lui. The Star man could make the 19 for the game against Catalan and therefore our attack must be bolstered by his return. This could also take the pressure off Jack Littlejohn and allow him to concentrate on his own game, allowing Lui to take the lead. This also allows Josh Wood to move into his preferred hooking role, where he’s performed brilliantly earlier in the season.
‘Winnable games’. Ian Watson would never admit it, but he will have secretly been targeting this run of games with the hope of picking up points against the so called ‘lesser opposition’ in Super League. With the next 4 games against, Catalans, Huddersfield, what could be a depleted Hull FC side and Widnes, there are many potential points up for grabs and how the Red Devils come out of this period of games will no doubt dictate how the season will pan out.
Still in 8th with 3 point cushion. At this point in the season, if you are in the top 8 having played Wigan and St Helens twice already and with potentially winnable games coming up, there’s surely no reason why Salford can’t push on and start looking up instead of down. Momentum and a winning habit can be infectious, so it needs to start with a performance and a positive result against Catalans this weekend.
With Catalan winning 3 and losing 3 in their last 6 games, they too are struggling to find any level of consistency. There’s no doubt that the Dragons will be targeting this game as a winnable fixture as well.
If Ian Watson’s men can cut out the silly errors that have crept into their game over the last few weeks and with the hopeful return of Rob Lui to bring an injection of creativity, there’s no reason that the Red Devils can’t start to look forward to the next few games with huge optimism.
C’mon Salford!
Pictures by Gaz Lyons
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