Salford Red Devils coach Ian Watson has sent out a strong message to their rivals in the Qualifiers: insisting they’re not thinking about the fear of relegation, but are instead targeting a clean sweep of the mini-competition.
The Red Devils are once again in the ‘middle eight’ in 2016, just as they were last year during the inaugural season for the league structure.
But whereas last year they won five and lost two of their seven games – securing third spot in the Qualifiers and an immediate return to Super League – Watson wants his side to go even better this year.
“We won’t be looking at it with a fear of relegation, we’ll be looking at it to try and win every game,” he told the club’s website.
“We’ve not gone into any game this year thinking we won’t win, we’ve gone into every single match thinking we can win and we demand that from this group. This group isn’t here to play second fiddle to anyone: they’re here to play to win.”
“We’ve got the middle eights so we’ll go about that in the same way we’ve gone about the season, to ensure we finish where we want to finish in the Qualifiers. We’ll get the Hull game out of the way then we’ll look forward to the Qualifiers.”
Watson also wants to finish as high as possible in the regular season to help set the Red Devils up for a stronger and brighter 2017.
“We want to finish as high as Salford have finished in a good few years, and that will help us build this team and build for next year too.
“That’s how you progress, by chipping away at certain things and adding quality to the group. That’s what will make Salford successful, rather than ripping things apart and starting again all the time.”
