Tag: Adam Walker

Ian Watson | “We have to know how to turn the tide”

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Head Coach Ian Watson was disappointed with his sides defensive display in defeat to Wigan Warriors and feels his team need to learn how to ‘turn the tide’.
He also gave his thoughts on a range of other topics.

On the performance…

We weren’t good enough defensively. We got ran and around a few too many times on our right-hand edge particularly coming out of yardage. When we put ourselves back in a position to win the game our right edge again let us down. We were disappointed in the first half when we conceded three consecutive tries. We have to know how to turn the tide there. We were completing at 44% in the first half which isn’t good enough. Our execution was poor on the back of that and defensively we let them march us. They did the basics really well and we didn’t.

On the performance in comparison with Castleford…

We were probably better in the Castleford game than we were today. Defensively I just think we’ve let ourselves down from our standards of what we normally compete at. Once we got into the lead again, we needed to up the intensity, but the likes of Dominic Manfredi and Joe Burgess got on the front foot and those two gave Wigan a big lift in the back-field. It’s up to us to deal with that and we didn’t do that well at all.

On injuries…

Ken Sio is the more serious one at the moment, he looked like he’d popped his groin. We’ll have to see what the physios say on that, but he could be looking at over a month.

On Adam Walker…

He was trying to lead the boys and when he came onto the field, he made a massive difference to us as well because he played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He led the way in the middles, but they were really good for the majority of the game, but we just fell down in certain areas defensively.

On Adam Lawton…

I just felt the game was getting too quick in the middle of the ruck and Adam Lawton is a big guy. We need to be controlling the ball and getting our fair share of it as well and I just thought we made some silly errors. The game wasn’t panning out in a manner in which we felt we could introduce Adam.

On Ed Chamberlain…

Ed’s a good player and he’s a good guy as well who trains really hard. He’ll be disappointed that we’ve been beaten down that right edge but as a team we’ve got to be disappointed that we got beat down that side.
 
Tickets for Sunday’s game against Wakefield Trinity at the Mobile Rocket Stadium are now available to purchase from the Club Ticket Office and over the phone on 0161 786 1570. For more details, click HERE. 

Squad | Ian Watson names 19-man squad for Wigan game

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Head Coach Ian Watson has named his 19-man squad for the visit of Betfred Super League champions Wigan Warriors on Sunday 24th March, 3pm kick-off.
Adam Lawton is named in the 19-man squad and could be in line to make his home debut. Adam Walker retains his place following an impressive debut at Castleford Tigers while Ed Chamberlain is looking for his first start of the season.
Tickets for our game against Wigan Warriors on Sunday 24th March are now available to purchase from the The Salford Stadium Ticket Office, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 or online HERE.
Here is the squad in full:
 
 

Talking Points | Castleford Tigers 24-20 Salford Red Devils

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Salford Red Devils ran Castleford Tigers close at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle and there was plenty to talk about from a thrilling Betfred Super League clash. 
We take a look at some of the key talking points.
Competing with the best
Following last month’s loss to St Helens, Head Coach Ian Watson pointed to positives and said his side would learn from playing and competing with the best on a regular basis and this is something they displayed this weekend at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
The Red Devils fought till the end against Castleford with a late Jake Bibby try almost being the catalyst for a late fightback. At one stage Salford found themselves 18-4 down but some determined and clever attacking play saw them score two tries in quick succession to close the gap further.

Ian Watson’s side went toe-to-toe with the team who have the best win percentage in the Betfred Super League in recent seasons and on another day could have very well come away from Castleford with two points.
While the result wasn’t quite what the Red Devils wanted, if they can maintain the level of performance, we have seen over the last month there is no reason Salford – as Ian Watson mentioned in his post-match presser – become contenders in 2019.
Adam Walker debuts 
After almost two years away from the field, Adam Walker made his long-awaited Rugby League return coinciding with his debut for Salford Red Devils. Walker was named amongst the interchanges and entered the field midway through the first half in place of Gil Dudson.
Walker immediately looked a threat with ball in hand causing a few issues for the Tigers defence with Paul McShane getting sent to the sin-bin after tackling the Red Devils forward. The former Hull Kingston Rovers, St Helens and Wakefield Trinity man looked to make an impact as well and will only improve with more game time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvJdExfnKv0/
Head Coach Ian Watson said: “I thought he looked dangerously with ball in hand and defensively I thought there were a few times where he lounged in but that’s fatigue and taking that into contact. We’ll see how it pans out when he’s got match fitness. He will get better, and he’ll be a great addition for us.”
Lussick continues to impress 
Joey Lussick played a full eighty minutes against Castleford Tigers on Sunday afternoon and was a standout performer for the Red Devils helping guide Salford around the field and crossing for his fourth try of the season.
Lussick has developed into a real threat on the opposition line whether he gets the ball out to Rob Lui and Jackson Hastings at pace or whether he throws a dummy and ‘goes himself’. The Australian has scored in four games this season with three of his tries coming on the road against Hull Kingston Rovers, Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers, respectively.


In addition, he was an absolute rock in defence making 45 tackles and often going head-to-head with Castleford’s star-man on the afternoon Paul McShane. Lussick’s ability to kick from hooker also offers another option alongside the Red Devils’ halfback pairing.
Lussick will be looking to carry his fine form into another huge Betfred Super League fixture this weekend as Salford welcome Wigan Warriors looking to return to winning ways at the The Salford Stadium.
Sin-bin and potential sin-bin 
Paul McShane was sent to the sin-bin in the first half for his involvement in an altercation between the two sides which also involved Adam Walker. Unfortunately, during this period the Red Devils didn’t manage to cross the line and capitalise on their man advantage. Paul McShane was central to everything Castleford produced in attack.

In the second half, Tigers centre Alex Foster was adjudged to have tackled Joey Lussick off the ball by referee Robert Hicks as Jackson Hastings looked to find the hooker on a half-break. While Salford were awarded a penalty, the decision was made not to sin-bin Foster.
However, when questioned about this decision, Head Coach, Ian Watson, said: “This wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”

Ian Watson | “We have to believe we’re a good team”

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Head Coach Ian Watson was pleased to see his sides display against Castleford Tigers while also feeling frustrated that they didn’t come away from the Mend-A-Hose Jungle with a victory.
He gave his thoughts on a number of subjects in the post-match press conference.
On the performance…
There were a few little errors and defensive lapses and I think they gave Castleford the win. The one thing I have said to the boys is that we have to believe we are a good team and we’re showing it now against Castleford away from home and against St Helens at home which was a game we learnt a lot from. We are quite a young team but we’ve got to believe that we can come to Castleford and win and I think we just didn’t start the game with that mentality as we put them on the front foot and they started playing like a top team does putting you under pressure and getting repeat sets which Paul McShane was central to. Once we got the game in the balance a little bit, we started to control that and got on the front foot and dictating field position as well. It’s our own fault we’ve lost the game.
On the difference between the sides…
They’ve been a top team for the last few years. We’re still quite a young team in many ways with our spine being quite young with Joey Lussick and Jackson Hastings in there. We just need to be a little bit more patient at times instead of chasing the game. Paul McShane did that really well, they started completing sets and earning repeat sets through goal line drop-outs. They persisted and sometimes you just have to deal with that and try and turn the tide, but I want to give massive credit to our players for competing. I do think that game will hit home with the lads to see they’re a good side coming to Castleford and almost winning the game.
On the start to the season…
Yeah, we’re happy with the start to the season but we want more – everybody always wants more. We all want to win every game we go into but I’m hoping the games we’ve played, and the performances and results can kick us on for the remainder of the season. We can show everyone what we’re about then and show that we’re a team that can be contenders. I think if we go about games the way we have in spells and piece that together we’ll be a strong team and we’ll trouble a few more this season.
On Adam Walker…
I thought he looked dangerously with ball in hand and defensively I thought there were a few times where he lounged in but that’s fatigue and taking that into contact. We’ll see how it pans out when he’s got match fitness. He will get better, and he’ll be a great addition for us.
On the result…
I think we’re really disappointed with the result because we know we’ve let an opportunity slip through our own little errors and misreads. I think we’re good enough to compete with these teams now, but we just need to believe that we are good enough on a regular basis, but we need to show that next week against Wigan Warriors when they come to the The Salford Stadium. I think we’ve had a tough month here with St Helens, then Catalans away and now Castleford away so we can’t wait to get back to the The Salford Stadium and show what we’ve learnt from the last three games.
On Jake Bibby’s performance…
Jake Bibby is a great kid and he’s had to wait for his opportunity to get into the team. He’s got the shirt at the moment if I’m honest as he’s doing fantastic in both attack and defence. We always knew defensively he was brilliant, and we’ve worked on the attacking side of his game – he’s been working closely with Martin Gleeson and spending a lot of time with him. He’s showing us what he’s learned over the last couple of years.
On a possible sin-bin offence by Alex Foster…
I thought so at the time but that’s not the reason we’ve lost the game. We need to be smarter in certain areas so I can’t use that as a reason as to why we weren’t victorious. It was definitely a good contest.
 
Tickets are available for Salford Red Devils next home game against Wigan Warriors at 3pm on Sunday 22nd April. You can buy tickets from the AJ Bell Stadium Ticket Office, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 or by buying online HERE. You will save money buying in advance!

Squad | Ian Watson makes one change for the trip to Castleford

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Head Coach Ian Watson has named his 19-man squad for Sunday’s trip to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle to face Castleford Tigers, 3:30pm kick-off.
Adam Walker is now eligible to play for Salford Red Devils and is named in this weekend’s squad in place of Greg Burke. The former Scotland international will be hopeful of making his debut for the Red Devils.
Jake Bibby retains his place in the 19-man squad after a sensational performance at Catalans which saw him score twice and claim two try-assists. Daniel Murray is again included after another impressive showing in the south of France.
Tickets are still available for Sunday’s visit to Castleford from the The Salford Stadium Ticket Office up until 4pm on Saturday 16th March. Purchase in advance and save money!
Here is the 19-man squad in full:

 

Ian Watson | “We want to attack straight from the beginning”

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

As Salford Red Devils head over to France to face Catalan Dragons on Saturday, Head Coach Ian Watson takes a positive mindset in the hope that his side can bring home two points.

On last weekend’s game against St Helens…

I thought there was loads of positives from playing the best team in the competition at the moment, who everyone’s tipped to win the Grand Final. We competed in large parts and for the first 20 minutes of the game we were really good – really good arm wrestle and we were finishing our sets well in that period.
They just maintained theirs a lot longer and continued to finish the sets really well in corners and upped the line speed defensively. They won the field position through the defence – I thought the defence was outstanding on the day.
For us, a lot of positives. We were a hell of a lot better defensively in the second half and started to dominate on the field position. We just needed to do it straight from the start of the game and have that mentality to stay in those arm wrestles with the top teams for longer.

On Salford’s defence…

It’s a big focus for us as a team and for the lads individually. They want to be known for the defence and they want to build a reputation on having good defence, especially on the back of the chase. Its where the teams win the field position on the back of the early tackles.
We’ve spoken about it this year and we know for four halves of football this year we’ve nilled teams which is a big plus for us as a team, where we’re saying that we really want to be represented in our defence.

On this week’s preparations…

We’ve had a great week after a few niggles after the Saints game, which you get after playing against some of the best teams because they’re tough games like that when they’re pretty much an arm wrestle mentality.
Theres a few players that we’ll assess as we go forward on through the week but the early parts of the sessions from Monday into today and Wednesday, we’ve had two great sessions so hopefully we can take that forward now.

On the squad…

We’ll take Adam Lawton with us this time, so he’ll be in the 20-squad that we take over with us. He’s been doing really well at Rochdale so he’ll put competition on our middles, as will Adam Walker.
With us knowing that he’s back the following week will put more pressure on the players to make sure they’re performing and doing their job because Adam’s a known quality middle so we’ll want to feature him as soon as we can once his bans over. It’s up to the boys to go out there and put their best performance out there so they maintain the place for the following week.

On Saturday’s game against Catalan Dragons…

Catalan are a tough team, it’s a tough place to go. Our records not great over there for the past couple of years so we want to go across there with a real positive mindset and attack that straight from the beginning. We want to do that in attack and in defence so we’re looking to go with a positive performance and try and get the win there this year, but we know it’s a real tough ask to do that and we need to be at our best to do it.
It’ll build on the performance of St Helens. I thought St Helens was a really good performance in terms of our attitude and our effort when playing against the top teams. What we need to do is show that against Catalan and show that we can compete against the best teams, week in and week out because Catalan were up there last year and they won the cup. They had a great performance against Warrington last week, so if we can go out there and set our stall out then I think it’ll bode well for the rest of the season.

On the fans…

I think the support has been great this year and the players talk about it as well! I keep talking about the away games because you can consistently hear them all the time. They’re in good voice and they’re really positive and behind the players when they’re at the games.
The home games have been really loud and vocal and it’s good to see more supporters coming through the turnstiles. We’ve always had a good following go to Catalan so hopefully we can reward those fans with a victory this time.

Salford Red Devils 2019 Squad Numbers

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

Salford Red Devils are delighted to reveal our squads playing numbers ahead of the 2019 season.
Ken Sio is set to wear 23 following his arrival at the The Salford Stadium. Gil Dudson has been named at number ten while fellow new signings Adam Lawton and Adam Walker will wear 25 and 15, respectively.
Josh Wood – who was last year’s Young Player of the Year – has moved to number nine. Fellow youngster Jake Bibby has moved to number five.
Greg Burke and Ed Chamberlain who arrived midway through 2017 have been given 16 and two.
Jackson Hastings will remain as number 31, the number he wore when originally joining the Club in July. Joey Lussick will wear 14.
Niall Evalds has moved to number one, the position he occupied for the majority of last season.
The full squad list and sponsors are as follows:

  1. Niall Evalds sponsored by The Dog & Partridge
  2. Ed Chamberlain sponsored by Sparta Lightning Services
  3. Kris Welham sponsored by Process Gas Services
  4. Junior Sa’u sponsored by FAC Site Services
  5. Jake Bibby sponsored by Executive VPA
  6. Robert Lui sponsored by Steadfast Epoxy Flooring
  7. N/A
  8.  Lee Mossop sponsored by Austin Wilkinson
  9. Josh Wood sponsored by SRD Roofing
  10. Gil Dudson sponsored PH Services
  11. Josh Jones sponsored by Oakwood Engineering
  12. George Griffin sponsored by SuperJosh
  13. Mark Flanagan sponsored by Sparta Lightning Services
  14. Joey Lussick sponsored by Salmon King
  15. Adam Walker
  16. Greg Burke sponsored by Kinpaja
  17. Tyrone McCarthy sponsored by Arlec Property Services
  18. Ben Nakubuwai sponsored by Sparta Lightning Services
  19. Logan Tomkins sponsored by PH Services
  20. Daniel Murray sponsored by Juniper Gin Bar
  21. Greg Johnson sponsored by CD Brick & Stone
  22. Derrell Olpherts sponsored by Gold Line Draw
  23. Ken Sio sponsored by Advanced Steel
  24. Jansin Turgut sponsored by Acrobat FCSM
  25. Adam Lawton sponsored by Murray Metals
  26. N/A
  27. N/A
  28. N/A
  29. N/A
  30. N/A
  31. Jackson Hastings sponsored by Advanced Steel

Remember, for the best value for money you can still purchase a Salford Red Devils 2019 Season Ticket from the The Salford Stadium Ticket Office, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 or by simply clicking online HERE.
You can spread the cost of your 2019 Season Ticket over seven easy, manageable monthly payments via our Direct Debit payment scheme. To purchase your 2019 Season Ticket via Direct Debit please visit the The Salford Stadium Ticket Office or call 0161 786 1570. Please remember the Direct Debit option is not available via online purchases.

Adam Walker joins Salford Red Devils

Posted on by Luke Wallworth

In today’s edition of the Manchester Evening News, it was exclusively revealed that prop-forward Adam Walker has joined Salford Red Devils.
Walker hasn’t played since testing positive for cocaine whist at Wakefield Trinity in 2017, but the now reformed character has the chance to make an impact once again; an opportunity that isn’t lost on him.
The 27-year-old said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to have a club for the 2019 season and I’m extremely grateful to Salford Red Devils for giving me this opportunity.
“From day one speaking to Director of Rugby and Operations Ian Blease and Head Coach Ian Watson I could see that Salford – as a Club – have some real strong beliefs and values that centre around the community and doing good in the local area. I knew straight away that this was the kind of club I wanted to be at.
“I’ve not been perfect in the past. I don’t think anyone is. But you need to learn from your mistakes and develop as a person and player afterwards.
“It’s been a tough few years for myself not being able to play the sport I love on a regular basis. I was suffering from some mental health issues at the time which in turn led to me making a big mistake. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, I accepted and learnt from my punishment.
“In my time away from the game I feel like I’ve matured a lot. I honestly feel I’ve turned the corner, I’ve regained my love for the sport back and I’m ready for the next chapter.
“At a club like Salford, I’ve got the best opportunity to continue to grow as a person by going into the community, talking about the lessons I’ve learnt and promoting Rugby League in a positive manner.
“The sport of Rugby League has been very good to me. The support I received from the RFL, in particular Emma Rosewarne, was brilliant and really helped me on my road to recovery. I’ve now been offered a second chance and it’s up to me to make sure I grab it with both hands.”
Bradford-born Walker began his career with Huddersfield Giants but spent the majority on loan with Barrow Raiders and Swinton Lions. However, it was at Hull Kingston Rovers where the forward made his name while also being a regular for the Scottish National side.
Walker said: “I was playing at the highest and most consistent level I’ve ever competed at four or five years ago and I was loving every minute of it.
“During my time at Hull Kingston Rovers I managed to draw attention from Australia and even spoke to Melbourne Storm, but I decided to see out my contract at Hull. Chris Chester was very supportive of me and that helped massively. Of course, I got the move to St Helens and then eventually Wakefield, both of whom are great Super League clubs.
“I was also in the Scotland National side on a regular basis and for that to slip away because of a silly decision whilst at Wakefield was massively disappointing but it has only made me hungrier now to turn things around and strive to get back to where I want to be.”
Due to his suspension, Walker is yet to train with the Red Devils but has no concerns about catching up on pre-season and returning to the field in top condition.
Walker said: “I know I’ve a lot of work to do. I’ve not been able to train but once I’m allowed to get back on the field regularly.
“I know the Head Strength and Conditioning – Greg Brown – from my time with Swinton and I know he will get the best out of me physically. I’ll be pushing myself further than I have before to ensure I’m ready for my first game back whenever that may be.”
Adam Walker will be available to play for the Red Devils in March.
Salford Red Devils return to action for the first time in almost four months on Saturday as they clash with local rivals Swinton Lions at the The Salford Stadium, 1pm kick-off. Tickets are available at the The Salford Stadium, over the phone and online HERE.

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