Watson out for Rhinos revenge
RED DEVILS BOSS SAYS IT’S TIME TO RIGHT SOME WRONGS AFTER LAST YEAR’S DEFEAT TO LEEDS
SALFORD travel to Headingley tonight intent on exacting revenge for the 30-8 defeat suffered to Leeds in last year’s Middle 8 Qualifiers.
The loss to the Rhinos went some way to condemning the Red Devils to a spot in the Million Pound Game and head coach Ian Watson feels there are scores to settle when the two teams meet again.
“It’s an exciting game for us and it’s an opportunity for us to right a couple of wrongs from last year,” he said.
Watson is looking for his side to build on last week’s impressive victory over Huddersfield, but conceded there is still room for improvement.
“There are little things we worked on through the pre-season and we wanted to see little bits of improvement on the back of the Wigan performance and we felt that we got that at Huddersfield.
“Again, it’s about learning and improving every week and taking it forward so we can try and get that perfect performance.”
Like the Red Devils, Leeds also have one win from their opening two matches, with victory over Leigh Centurions following a narrow defeat to St Helens on the opening day of the 2017 Betfred Super League season.
“Quite a lot of the games have been tough arm wrestles, seeing who cracks first. Leeds have had that against St Helens and against Leigh and our games have been no different.
“Huddersfield was a real tough hit-out for us and we showed some resilience in that game to come through the other side, hopefully we can do that again.”
Justin Carney has been banned for two matches for making contact with referee James Child in the win over the Giants and is unavailable for selection, while Watson has brought Jake Bibby and Josh Wood into his 19-man squad for the match.
Todd Carney has been training with the club this week, but despite making an impact around the AJ Bell Stadium, has not been included in the squad to take on Leeds.
“He comes in and he gives competition for places straight away - you can see the quality he’s got around, he’s just short of a little bit of fitness at the moment and we’re working hard on that.
“Plus, the boys did a great job at Huddersfield last week so they hold their places on merit.”