Return form retirement up in smoke after broken ribs injury

SALFORD haven’t had much luck on the injury front this season and were reduced to just 17 available players for the visit of Castleford on Friday night – and now the injury crisis has extended to the coaching staff!

There has been some speculation that assistant boss, Martin Gleeson, may have been readying to come out of retirement to boost the Red Devils’ numbers and as a former Great Britain centre, his presence would surely have been welcomed in the depleted backline.

But that’s now unlikely to be the case after the 38-year-old picked up an injury at the hands of one of the team’s star players.

“[Gleeson] broke his ribs in training, so he’s nowhere near now,” joked Watson. “I think it was my pass [that caused it].

“We were just doing some attack and he’s slipped and Rob Lui has come over the top of him, crushed him down and popped all of his rib cartilage – so he’s another one out injured at the moment, so we’re going well.”

Watson hopes to have Luke Burgess back for the trip to Catalans Dragons this weekend, but believes the injury crisis is providing opportunities for some of his squad.

“We’re in a tough situation with numbers, but for me it’s a good opportunity for some of the guys to get games under their belt. Levy [Nzoungou] has come in, Jake Bibby, Derrell [Olpherts], people like that.

“They’re getting games at Super League level and I know that will be good for us going forward, and I know we’ll be fine going forward. We just need to get some bodies back on the field and the new recruits in that we’re trying to get in.”