Ian Watson believes the key to long-term Super League success is a squad rich with strong domestic talent.
The Salford head coach is currently attempting to finalise his squad for the 2017 season, having brought in four players so far ahead of 2017.
Among them are Grand Final winner and England international Lee Mossop, while emerging English talents in Kris Brining and Daniel Murray have also been recruited.
Although Watson has spoken of one NRL target in the new League Express, the Red Devils chief believes that building a squad around a strong English core is crucial to Super League success.
“You’re always looking for British players. I’m a big believer that you need a strong core of British players. It’s a long process to get where you need to, it’s not a one-year thing. It’s not as simple as getting one player in it’s sorted. It’s the process of getting where you need to, which you get to through continuity.
“Hull FC are an example of that, they made the top eight the year before so they were able to recruit early.
“The English players that were about this year had gone by the time we looked at recruitment because we were in the Middle 8s, so we couldn’t plan as our list was getting smaller and smaller. But Hull have built it up, and to be fair so have Castleford. Every club that is successful go through the process, it’s building and manipulating your squad, but it doesn’t happen over one year.”
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