Salford Red Devils head coach Ian Watson has declared an interest in England centre Jack Reed.
Following the departure of Josh Griffin to Hull FC, Watson and Tim Sheens have been tasked with replacing the outbound star for 2017.
Watson has confirmed that one player of interest to them is Brisbane star Reed, who is understood to be on his way out of the Broncos following a string of frustrating injuries that have hampered his career.
The 27-year-old has made over 100 appearances for Brisbane since making his debut in 2011 and he played in the NRL Grand Final defeat to North Queensland Cowboys last year.
However, he has struggled for fitness in 2016, with another shoulder problem set to see him miss a lengthy spell of action.
Reed has a history of shoulder problems, having already had one shoulder reconstruction while other problems have restricted his availability for England.
But that has not put off Watson, who would be keen on signing the NRL star. However, in order to comply with Super League rules on non-Federation trained players, he would first need to move out one of his other non-Federation trained players, as Reed’s development took place in Australia, despite him having been born in England and having a European passport.
“The first thing is that he’s a British player, and that’s what we want,” Watson confirmed.
“I don’t know if he’s classed as a quota player because of the time he’s spent over there, but we want a core of real good British players and then we want game breaker players filling our quota spots. That’s how we’re looking to go forward at Salford. If there are good British players about then we’d definitely be interested.
“He’s a great player and he’s been doing really well for Brisbane Broncos. He’s been playing in a winning culture and he has a winning mentality playing around a lot of great leaders. If a player like that becomes available they are the type of players you want to let in your team to influence your group.”
This article was first published in League Express. Get the breaking stories first by buying in stores on a Monday morning or alternatively, read the online version every Sunday evening by clicking here.
