Super League 2020 Preview - Salford Red Devils

There is only one possible outcome that would make 2020 a better season for Salford Red Devils than they had in 2019. Out of nowhere and against all the odds Ian Watson guided his side all the way to the Grand Final last year before they ran into the Saints juggernaut and the fairy tale ended.

It was a remarkable achievement, but there must be a slight worry that it has catapulted expectation at the club into the stratosphere. They started 2019 having to fend off the doomsaying from mugs like your writer who had them pegged for a relegation battle. This year they will have to deal with a different kind of pressure. The kind that wants to know whether or not, having done it once, you can do it again or even go one better.

In many ways Salford have been a victim of their own success. Players largely unheralded before last season’s campaign suddenly became sought after commodities. That has led to some pretty high profile departures, chief among which is that of Jackson Hastings. Amid suggestions that he didn’t really fancy it, talismanic scrum-half Hastings has finally pitched up at Wigan and leaves a gaping hole in the creativity department. Watson will hope that can be filled by the acquisition of Kevin Brown from Warrington, but at his age and with his injury record there have to be doubts about whether he is the answer to the Hastings problem.

Josh Jones’ form was good enough to see him break into the Great Britain squad at the end of the year, a fact which didn’t escape the notice of Hull FC who picked the former Saint up on a two-year deal. Winger Jake Bibby followed Hastings to Wigan to fill a gap there left by Tom Davies’ departure to Catalans Dragons, although balancing that ledger somewhat is the arrival of centre Dan Sarginson from the Warriors. George Griffin was another consistent performer catching the eye of other suitors, joining Castleford Tigers. Derrell Olpherts goes with him while Daniel Murray is one of several thousand new recruits at Hull KR.

Watson has the task of moulding together almost as many new recruits as they have down at KCom Craven Park. Along with Brown and Sarginson the Red Devils have brought in Chris Atkin, Ryan Lannon and James Greenwood from Rovers, three players from relegated London Broncos in Elliot Kear, Rhys Williams and Luke Yates, and two eye-catching props in Sebastine Ikahihifo from Huddersfield Giants and the mountainous Pauli-Pauli from Wakefield Trinity. Connor Jones and Jack Ormondroyd have also jumped on board from Featherstone Rovers to bolster the squad.

With so many new faces to fit in Watson will need to lean heavily on the mainstays of the 2019 squad who remain. Niall Evalds was one of the better fullbacks in Super League last year and seems to be getting better each year, while Kris Welham and Krisnan Inu are still good options at centre to give Sarginson competition for his spot. Tui Lolohea went from fish up a tree to one-half of one of the most potent halfback combinations in the game after his flit from Leeds Rhinos during last season and he will hope to strike up a similar rapport with Brown that he had with Hastings. The pack will look to veterans Lee Mossop and Gil Dudson once more, with Joey Lussick impressive at nine also. The likes of Greg Burke, Tyrone McCarthy, Adam Walker and Mark Flanagan might not be the most dynamic but they have a wealth of experience and, perhaps crucially, experience of going deep into a playoff series, making and in some cases winning a Grand Final.

With so many changes to the squad it seems almost spurious to analyse the statistical strengths and weaknesses from the last campaign. Yet the one which jumps out and hits you in the face is the fact that only Saints scored more tries than the Red Devils last year. To have an attack more potent than any of Warrington, Wigan, Leeds, Hull FC, Castleford and the rest is quite something for a club that have had more than their fair share of lean years. How much of that was down to the attacking structures put in place by Watson and how much was due to the individual brilliance of Hastings is something we will be able to analyse further as the season goes on, but you can’t deny that it is an impressive point at which to start 2020.

Perhaps with Hastings in the side it is no surprise that the Red Devils put in more attacking kicks than everyone else except Castleford Tigers, and made more metres than all but Saints, Castleford and those doyens of inconsistency Leeds Rhinos. Strangely, Salford ranked only eighth in clean breaks which may give Watson something to work on. If they could break the line more often they could score even more tries, particularly when you consider that they made fewer handling errors than any other side last term.

Defensively they were solid enough in the tackle with only Warrington and Wigan missing fewer, but they could improve at marker defence where only Warrington, Wakefield and Hull FC completed fewer tackles. Overall they had the fifth best defence in the league in terms of points conceded. There is perhaps scope for improvement there in the context of missing so few one on one tackles. They still found a way to concede more points than all of Saints, Wigan, Warrington and Castleford so there are still strides to be made, targets for Watson to take aim at.

Salford open their campaign with a Grand Final repeat at St Helens on January 31. As starts go it is not the easiest but it is a measure of how successful they were last year that TV schedulers and fixture compilers suddenly bracket Salford among the big boys suitable for a high-profile opening weekend extravaganza. Another high profile clash awaits in round 2 when Salford welcome Super League new boys Toronto Wolfpack to the AJ Bell, before Huddersfield Giants visit in round 3 on February 14. A third home game in succession sees Leeds Rhinos pitch up in round 4 on February 22 and yet a fourth when Wakefield arrive for round 5 on March 1. Seven of Saford’s first 10 league games are at home before a road trip that takes in Huddersfield, Leeds, Saints and Hull KR between the end of April and the start of June. A good start could be vital for Salford if they are to mount a playoff challenge once more.

Nobody expects Salford to repeat last season’s heroics but at the same time they are no longer the whipping boys threatened with relegation that they have been in many previous seasons. This side, despite the changes, should be able to hold its own in Super League and won’t be too far from a playoff place when the summer ends.