
Salford Red Devils coach Ian Watson has admitted the club’s hearing into their six-point deduction has been unavoidable at times – and says that if owner Marwan Koukash is successful this week, it would be a deserved boost for his squad.
Koukash will attempt to overturn the six-point penalty imposed by the RFL this year at an independent hearing this week, which will take place on Wednesday.
And Watson told League Express that it has been a difficult issue for his playing staff to avoid – but insists it would be a major plus for their top eight hopes if Koukash is successful.
“This group would deserve to be in the top eight if everything was scratch,” he said.
“They deal with so much; they’re dealing with what’s happened before them and they’re working really hard as a team and with each other to do what they can – so to get the points back would be massive for them as a group.
“It’d obviously also be huge for us in terms of our top eight hopes.”
Watson continued: “It’s there and it’s in the back of our minds – there’s no getting away from that. It’s been there since it happened and we were docked the points to be honest, but we keep trying to leave it alone and not talk about it.
“People are understandably intrigued by it though and after it’s done this week we can move forward and whatever has happened, we’ll get on with it.”
Watson conceded it has been difficult as coaching staff with such an important external issue hanging over the club’s head, too.
“The coaching staff, we try and leave it out the door and not give it much thought,” he said.
“You know it’s there because it’s unavoidable at times, but we try to get on with things.”
Should Koukash be successful and get all six points back, it would put Salford sixth after Friday’s victory over Castleford.