Salford are down to their last 17 fit players – and some maybe should not play
Hooker Logan Tomkins has also defied a stress fracture in his leg pretty much all season, admits boss Ian Watson
IAN WATSON is down to his last 17 fit players as Salford’s injury crisis leaves them facing a relegation battle.
And some of those maybe should not play while Logan Tomkins defied the pain of a stress fracture in his leg pretty much all season.
The cash-strapped Red Devils, waiting for new Aussie signing Jackson Hastings' visa to come through, are likely to finish in the Qualifiers barring a miracle in the last three games before Super League’s split.
Hooker Tomkins along with winger Greg Johnson, who was injured as he scored at Hull KR, is the latest to go down for up to six weeks but boss Watson will not play players continually through the pain barrier as it will do more long-term harm than good.
He said: “Logan’s played a large chunk of the season with a stress fracture. He had it in pre-season and we took him completely off his feet. It happened again during the season and we’ve been managing his training. He’s not been able to train fully.
“Logan’s been managing it, he’s been sore but getting through games. Last week, though, he didn’t train at all and went into the game, felt OK but in the second half he said, ‘It’s feeling really sore, I can’t push through.’
“And we’ve got a few who are patched up and having injections for the past couple of weeks. Ideally, I’d like to pull them out too.
“We took Ben Nakubuwai out last week as we’d have to jab him and we don’t want to keep doing that to players – and with some of our younger players, it’s the most games they’ve ever played.
“We’re bang on 17 at the minute but we’ve faced a lot of adversity, so it’s a challenge and that’s how I’ve put it to the players and I can’t afford to just run players into the ground.
“I’m thinking at the minute, ‘I hope no-one else gets injured,’ but the players are learning and they just crack on even though they come in sore.
Despite facing a bottom four finish, Watson believes his players can pull through it starting against Castleford today and may even reap the benefits of doing it tough, as interest of potential investment continues.
He added: “We’re in it as a group together. We’ve got 17 this week but we’ll give it a crack but the message is, ‘Just enjoy being in our group.’
“There’s a good group here and while it’s tough at the minute, you see the real character of players in adversity, so we’ll see what comes out of it.
“We’re focusing all our energy on what we can do as a team and a group and doing the best job we can do for each other and the club, so we can get to the end of the year and re-assess.
“We’ve got to be all in it together.”
