Kriss Brining has come a long way in a year.
Twelve months ago, he was preparing for York City Knights’ opening League 1 fixture with London Skolars. Roll forward the clocks, and the hooker is now set to take to the field against Leeds Rhinos for Salford.
After years of dominating the third-tier, Salford finally took a punt on the youngster, and they have been duly awarded so far with a number of eye-catching performances in pre-season and against Wigan.
His early signs of promise have resulted in head coach Ian Watson comparing him to England hooker Daryl Clark. For Brining himself, he admits that the whole process has been a bizarre transition.
“It’s weird. I didn’t think I’d be playing with Todd Carney and against Sam Tomkins for example and you can’t help being starstruck coming across these players but that’s normal for me now and I’m fully focused.
“It’s nice to test myself against the best, that’s what you want to do and that’s why I ultimately made the move.”
Brining is keen to showcase why he has been rated so highly since making his switch to the Red Devils against Leeds tonight, and he insists that he, nor the rest of the Salford side, will be in awe of their big-name stars.
“I think they talk about the transition period they were having but they’re all big name players.
“I’ll be going into the game not thinking about how they’ve done before or last season because it’s a new game.”
