Salford Red Devils got 2019 off to a great start with a 54-6 victory over local rivals Swinton Lions and Head Coach Ian Watson was pleased with various aspects of his sideโs performance.
On the gameโฆ
I thought it was a good performance and we did what weโve worked on in the pre-season. We got out of our own half a little bit too easily as we got quite a few penalties on tackle three. Iโd have like to see a little more of an arm-wrestle to see more of what we have worked on. But everything that was put in front of the boys they reacted really well to especially when we were making all the changes to mix it up a bit people got plenty of game time.
On adapting following the changesโฆ
I thought we looked quite smooth even when Jackson [Hastings] and Rob [Lui] came off and we put Niall [Evalds] into the halves. Weโve done a bit of practice in training running with different combinations just in case anything happens. We know weโve got a small squad, but weโve got players who can play in different positions and that was on show for us against Swinton.ย
On Connor Davies-Aspeyโs debutโฆ
I was really pleased for him. Heโs a baby, to be fair, and I thought he did great. He made a couple of breaks and a little bit of inexperience cost him from making a try for Jansin [Turgut] but he created a nice try for Derrell [Olpherts]. Iโm sure heโll be telling everyone about nearly getting his ribs knocked out as well, but I thought it was great for a young kid to come in and do that.
On fellow triallist โ Calvin Wellington…
Calvin did really well coming in at left centre. He has the ability to play on both sides and he transfers the ball really well, but he suits us with him not having a preference as to which side he plays on.
On the players who didnโt featureโฆ
All going well they should be included next weekend against Wigan. With the game being a little 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 play under the stop clock. Thatโs why we didnโt make a change in the first half and then let the middles run for a full forty in the second half, also.
On how the players handled the stop clockโฆ
Weโve got players here who are big enough and fit enough to play long minutes if you look at the first half, we had Mark Flanagan, Lee Mossop and Gil Dudson who all did a full forty and handled it really comfortably.
On the stop clockโฆ
It flowed a lot better today. I thought the first ten minutes went really quickly, it used to take a long time to get to the ten-minute mark in some games but today I thought the stop clock helped today and it sped the game up. My thing with it was when youโre watching a game on Sky Sports, they were finishing way beyond 10pm and the game was getting dragged out longer and longer, but I think the stop clock kind of drags that back in really rather than it being stop-start. Hopefully, itโll make the Betfred Super League more entertaining.
On goal kickingโฆ
No, weโve no issues there. Ed [Chamberlain] practices religiously so weโve not got much of a problem with that. It was fairly windy when Ed was out there kicking today. The good thing is last year I donโt think we had a single goal kicker for the majority but now weโve got a handful of genuine goal kickers โ Ed, Jackson, Rob, Joey [Lussick] and Niall likes to put a kick in every now and again. So, weโve no worries in that department.
Tickets forย Salford Red Devils’ next pre-season friendlyย areย available to purchase at the Club Ticket Office, overย the phone on 0161 786 1570 or online HERE. For a reminder of ticket prices, click HERE.
Salford Red Devils 2019 Season Tickets are stillย available to purchase from the Club Ticket Office, over theย phone on 0161 786 1570 or online HERE. You can spread the cost via Direct Debit payments, for more details, click HERE.