Pre-season defeat may be useful for Red Devils chief
WIGAN arrive at the AJ Bell Stadium tomorrow for the first of two visits in quick succession, a quirk of the additional ‘loop fixtures’ brought in following the removal of the Super 8s.
But it will not be the first time Salford have entertained the reigning Betfred Super League champions this year - there was a pre-season warm-up fixture in January.
And although his side were on the wrong end of a 28-18 scoreline that day, coach Ian Watson was pleased with how the Red Devils matched up against the Warriors and the insights he gained.
“There are always little traits in the way teams perform in those sorts of matches that are indicative as to their approach to games for the coming season,” Watson explained. “It comes from individual players more than anything.
“We were really pleased with what we got out of that game even though we lost, because our middles did a really good stint in the first half and there were a number of little things for us to pick out of Wigan’s performance that day.
“We know, for example, that George Williams poses an attacking threat, and that they will be putting the pump on our right edge defence, which they did in that game. “They’ve done that quite successfully in recent years, so we’ve looked at that this week in training.” Wigan have struggled under interim coach Adrian Lam so far this season and their only win came against Leeds Rhinos in round two, but, Watson is not underestimating them. He said: “We are expecting Wigan to be coming to us fighting for the points, just as Leeds did when they visited us and it all came crashing down on us. “The big factor in that game was the presence of Stevie Ward who was outstanding on the day. He did a great job against Ian Watson us defensively on their right edge and he gave them something different on attack, but he’s been missing for them since then.
“We’ve learned from that game, though - it’s been the only match when we have been seriously off our game.
“Recent matches against Saints and Castleford have also taught us a number of things which we are aiming to build upon.”
Lam is well aware of the threat Salford can pose, but is confident his team have turned a corner. “We feel we have taken a step forward with our on-field attitude and the way we’ve been training so I look forward to it,” he said. “[Salford] had a fantastic win a few weeks ago over in Catalans and they have been playing really well. We’ve got to prepare to make sure that we are at our absolute best.”