Watson confident Salford are ready

IAN Watson is confident his Salford players are well prepared for the challenges that lie ahead throughout the 2018 Betfred Super League season, having re-designed his club’s pre-season schedule.

The Red Devils entertain Wigan Warriors at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday evening in their first league fixture of the season, after warm-up action that consisted of a home win over Swinton Lions and defeat away to Warrington.

“We’ve had a really good pre-season with our group and we’ve come out of our games pretty healthy,” said Watson.

“We’ve also made sure we’ve got everything we needed to get out of it, so we’re pretty happy and looking forward to the Wigan game.”

Watson admitted towards the end of the 2017 season that his side’s drop-off in form could in part be attributed to the “flogging” the players had received in pre-season. It was a regime designed to prevent any repeat of the drop into the Million Pound Game the previous year, but may well have taken its toll on the relatively small Salford squad over the course of a long season.

“We have definitely adapted - you always learn, don’t you? You’re always evolving as a coach or as a player, you learn from the different situations you face,” Watson said.

“The situations we faced last year and how hard we went at it to ensure we didn’t end up in the [Million Pound Game] again was a positive and we needed to do that, but also you’ve got to learn on the back of that what happens to your players and what effects it has on them.

“We’ve been a hell of a lot smarter in the way we’ve approached things this year and looked into things in more depth as well, so hopefully that will benefit us going forward this year.”

The Salford coaching staff may not have “flogged” their players this time around, but co-captain Mark Flanagan is still desperate to get back into competitive action and put an end to pre-season.

“It’s been really tough, but we expect nothing less,” said the former Wigan and St Helens forward. “It’s been cold, it’s been dark, but we’ve trained really well.

“We’ve done a lot of defensive work. I think we’ll start with a good defensive ethos towards the start of the season, but we’re ready to start playing again now - it’s been too much training for our liking!”