Watson’s Devils are up to speed
TRIALISTS IMPRESS BOSS IN FRIENDLY AGAINST LIONS
THE new rules introduced to speed the game up this season will not catch Salford out when competitive action rolls around.
The Red Devils coaching staff have designed their pre-season training schedule around the changes – which include reduced interchanges and a shot clock on scrums and dropouts – and used the weekend’s friendly against Swinton Lions to test things out in a match situation.
“We’ve trained a way to manipulate that this year,” explained coach Ian Watson after the match. “We’ve made sure we’re quick and strong, and hopefully that comes out in the Super League games when we start playing them.”
Salford resisted the temptation to involve every available member of their playing squad in the fixture, particularly focusing on giving extended minutes to the forwards that will bear the brunt of the reduced interchanges when the season commences.
As a result, the likes of Greg Burke and Daniel Murray watched the match from the stands, but are expected to feature at home to Super League champions Wigan on Sunday.
Watson added: “Just with the game being a little bit different at the moment with the stop clock, we wanted our middles to get decent minutes and get used to how it feels to be under the pump and playing against the stop clock.
“That’s why we didn’t make a change in the first half and second half we didn’t change any of our starting middles over, we let them run for the full 40 minutes.
“It’s a good exercise for them because we’ve got players here who are fit enough and strong enough to compete and do really well for large chunks of the game.” The match was the first time the Red Devils experienced the altered rules and the use of the shot clock designed to prevent teams stalling for time at restarts.
“I thought the game flowed a lot better,” said Watson. “The first 10 minutes went really quickly, whereas normally in can take a long time to get to 10 minutes in some games.
“My thing was, when you’re watching the game on Sky and it’s finishing way beyond 10pm and the game seems to get dragged out longer and longer, I think the stop clock pulls that back in and you get a flow to the game, rather than being stop-start.”
Watson was also impressed by the performances of his two trialists, St Helens academy graduate Calvin Wellington and particularly that of 16-year-old Salford foundation player Connor Davies-Aspey.
He said: “Young Connor, I’m really pleased for him. I thought he did great. He is a baby, to be fair.
“He made a couple of breaks and a little bit of inexperience cost him – he could have made another try for Jansin [Turgut] – but he created a nice try for Derrell [Olpherts] and I’m sure he’ll be telling everyone about getting his ribs nearly knocked out as well!
“For a young kid to come in and do that, I thought it was outstanding.”
Salford Red Devils host Wigan Warriors in their second pre-season friendly at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday, January 20, with tickets available at the AJ Bell Stadium, over the phone and online.