NIALLED ON FOR GLORY
Evalds ready to grab Wembley chance
Evalds has not featured for Salford since September 3 due to a calf injury but has returned to the squad after the club confirmed that Sarginson and forward Jack Ormondroyd tested positive this week.
Sarginson would have been a guaranteed starter at full- back but that place could now go to Evalds, who joins Castleford next season.
Nine Red Devils in their 21- man cup final squad played in Super League on Tuesday, with opponents Leeds using four.
“Everyone would like to give a massive show of gratitude to Sarginson and Ormondroyd for their tremendous contributions throughout the season, which have helped the team progress to the Coral Challenge Cup Final,” a club statement read.
Leading his team out at Wembley will be a proud moment for Salford coach Ian Watson.
He played just 46 Super League games, for the Red Devils and Workington, spending the majority of his career at Swinton, Rochdale and Oldham.
Richard Agar, his opposite number at Leeds, never made it to the top flight at his primary club Dewsbury, with the pair crossing paths numerous times on the field and playing briefly alongside each other at Widnes in 2001.
Their coaching journeys also started outside the with Watson a player- boss in the Championship and Agar at amateurs Featherstone Lions.
Now they are rated as two of the sharpest minds in the sport – and Watson believes his education in rugby league’s part- time ranks was invaluable.
He said: “I’m a big fan of the Championship. There’s proper commitment there to be a street rugby player, more than elite, anything. You look at Super League and see the athletes playing the game now – but some of them won’t be as educated as some of those Championship players.
“When you’re down at the lower level, you have to have a love for the game and an understanding of the game and of your position. In the
Championship there’s no one who plays just to play rugby, otherwise you’d go play amateur with your mates.
“What you want to do is win, and get the extra kind of money that the Championship brings.
“It gives you a good schooling for when you come up into Super League.”
Watson was still playing parttime at Leigh when Agar led
Hull FC to the 2008 Challenge Cup Final.
Agar says he is a “radically” different coach 12 years on.
“It has been a 20- odd- year journey for myself and one I’m still learning on,” he said.
From those humble beginnings, tomorrow Agar and Watson will be key figures on the country’s biggest sporting stage.