You wouldn’t blame Ian Watson for using the suspension of the season as a chance to wind down.
After Salford’s fairy tale run to last year’s Grand Final, the Red Devils coach didn’t put his feet up. Instead, he headed off to the other side of the world as part of his coaching duties with Great Britain.
Upon his return, he jumped straight back in with Salford, meaning he has effectively worked, without any holiday, for the last 18 months.
Watson admits that his hectic schedule has at times caught up with him, but he would also have it no other way.
“It plays on you a bit at times,” he admitted.
“Kenny Dalglish made a statement when he came out of management and said it was something he never wanted to do for the rest of his life because it has a massive effect on your health and relationships.
“When you’re in it, you don’t see any other way.”
Even now, Watson and the rest of the Salford staff haven’t been using the lay-off as downtime, though they are now restricted to what they can do after the club announced staff had been furloughed.
“We’ve been saying we are off and at home but we’ve still got work to do.
“We went down to the gym when the measures were put in place and pieced up the equipment to get out to the boys. Other than that we’re in constant touch with welfare officers, speaking to the players. We’ve set them a lot of stuff to do at home.”
That said, Watson is using some of his additional time to spend quality time with his family.
“This little break has been good for us in that I didn’t get a break at the end of last year. So even though I’m still at home and discussing the game, it’s given me a little bit of time with the family. I trained with the girls in the garden, which I’ve not done for a long time.”
