Salford prove experts wrong in Grand style
AT the start of the season, most pundits expected Salford to face a battle to preserve their spot in the Betfred Super League.
This Saturday evening, they’ll end the year competing for the Grand Final trophy at Old Trafford.
With little in the way of previous play-off experience, the smallest squad in Super League and operating to a budget well below the division’s big-hitters, the Red Devils are again considered massive outsiders against a St Helens side that finished 16 points clear at the end of the regular season.
But director of rugby Ian Blease is happy to let Saints have the favourites tag – and even happier to have misjudged his expected timeline for success at the club. “It’s great to prove people wrong, isn’t it?” said Blease, the Salford captain when a young Ian Watson first joined the club as a player.
“We played for the club for several years, myself and Watto, we like being underdogs. This is what Salford’s about – hardworking, loyal guys and we look after our own.
“It’s a shot in the arm for the city and it’s putting one or two fingers up at people who doubted us.
“We knew what we were doing behind the scenes, we had a plan. It’s probably come quicker than we thought and I’m the first to admit that I didn’t think we could come to a Grand Final this early, but the players have to take every credit for that. The way they’ve performed this year, playing a great brand of rugby, it’s just an honour to be involved at the club at this moment in time.”
There had been concerns that Salford’s maiden Grand Final appearance would result in a poor attendance at Old Trafford. But just five miles away at the AJ Bell Stadium, fans queued from 5am the morning after victory over reigning champions Wigan to secure their tickets.
“Paul King, one of our directors, went down and said there were people buying 30, 40, 50 tickets at a time,” said Blease.
“We sold nearly 6,000 on that one day and Super League sold 4,500 online on Saturday before we went on sale, a lot of them will be ours.
“I’m guessing we’re at about nine or 10 thousand-strong at the moment, but we’ve got another allocation we can use, so I implore the fans to get down.”
Spearheaded by Steve Prescott Man of Steel Award winner Jackson Hastings, Salford’s success on the field is all the more remarkable when considered in the context of the financial situation off recent years.
Although former owner Marwan Koukash has written off debts owed to him, the Red Devils have had to cut back significantly since his departure.
Players the club would like to have kept had to be sold and Blease has struggled to match rival offers for his own sought-after stars. But despite these tough conditions, the two Ians have built a squad that now stands 80 minutes away from a first championship victory in over 40 years. Blease said: “It’s well documented that we’re half a million plus down on other clubs, maybe more, salary cap wise and with the smallest squad in Super League.
“It’s a real tribute to the club to get there – whether we win, whether we lose, it’s a massive achievement. But we don’t want to think about defeat. We’re coming here to do a job on Saturday. “There’s a confidence around the camp and that’s not disrespecting Saints, that’s just knowing what we can do as a team.” it in