By BILLY GRIMSHAW
COACH Ian Watson has urged his Salford team to ignore Saturday’s opponents Warrington’s position in the league table in the build up to their Super League clash at the AJ Bell Stadium.
The Wolves have lost away at Catalans and at home to Castleford, but sandwiched between the domestic losses was an impressive victory in the World Club Series against Brisbane Broncos.
“Warrington are a great team,” Watson said. “They play a good way. I know the kind of standards Tony (Smith, coach) sets for them and they won’t be happy that they’ve lost their first two league games and they will be aiming to put it right.”
The Red Devils coach is eager for his side to prepare to face the Warrington that beat Brisbane, not the side rooted to the Super League basement. “As you saw against the Broncos, if they want to turn it on, they can. For us it’s making sure we turn up and be at our best on Saturday to hopefully get the win.”
The corresponding fixture last season was one of the most dramatic of the year. The Red Devils looked to have the game won when 30-12 up after 50 minutes. However, they allowed the Wolves to claw the scores back to 30-30 before watching helplessly as Chris Sandow’s drop goal on the hooter sailed through the posts to hand Warrington both competition points.
“We kind of went within ourselves,” Watson recalled. “I don’t know if we were shocked at how far we were in front in that game but we stopped doing what we were doing in the second half.”
Sandow, the inspiration for the Wolves fightback, is no longer a Warrington player but Watson will have been fighting against complacency in the build up to this clash and the Red Devils will be hopeful of exacting revenge on last season’s league leaders.
