SALFORD RED DEVILS star Kallum Watkins has heaped praise upon his coach Paul Rowley for helping revive his career after his disappointment when Toronto Wolfpack went under and then when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
“He’s a great character for our team,” Watkins said.
“He’s brutally honest and that’s what we’ve needed so he’s been really great for our players.
“He wants us to back ourselves, execute our plays really well and not lack effort.
“At times we have put in some great performances and it’s a big hand to him, Kurt Haggerty and Danny Orr.
“It’s all about getting a good run of results and that consistency.”
Watkins suffered his devastating ACL injury in June 2021, which was the second of his career, after having suffered a similary injury when with Leeds in 2018. But since returning to action he has established himself as one of the competition’s leading second-rowers after making the shift from centre.
Now, Watkins has revealed just how much he is enjoying his time at Salford.
“We’ve got a team that can achieve anything we want to and we need to ensure we believe that,” he said.
“We are a little down on bodies but we have resilience within us and we need to be completely honest with ourselves.”
Salford have now triggered the last year of Watkins’ contract for next season.
“I knew Salford were always going to take next year on board,” he said.
“It was all about getting me back playing and making sure I was playing well, but Salford have been really good to me and I’ve got a lot of history with them, initially as a supporter.
“They helped me get back in Super League during lockdown, which I’m obviously happy about.”
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