Nene Macdonald has certainly felt the love since joining the club last October.
The PNG international has hit the ground running in a red shirt, scoring two tries in his opening five games; with one – an acrobatic finish against Castleford Tigers – winning the club’s Try of the Month for February.
“It’s been great,” Macdonald told our YouTube channel when asked what it’s been like fitting in at Salford Red Devils.
“Since I’ve been here, everyone has been so accommodating, everyone has been getting around me. It feels like a brotherhood here, it feels like I’ve joined and always been a part of this club, so it’s been great.”
It’s not just his teammates who have taken to his character and freakish ability. On a match day, you can often hear Macdonald’s name echoing around the stadium to the tune of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
Macdonald tells us how much he appreciates the support, and always takes time out to go around after full-time and meet the Salford faithful.
“Coming in and going after the games I always make sure to go around and say hi to everyone because they’ve put their hard-earned money to watch us play.
“It’s good to see their support and hear them chant my name – I must be doing something right!” he joked.
Moving on to this weekend’s Rivals Round clash with a familiar foe, Macdonald was full of praise for his old boss, Adrian Lam, as his Leigh Leopards team roll into town.
“They’re a great team. Adrian (Lam) was a smart player when he played and a smart coach,” the centre continued.
“I think they’ll be doing their homework on us and it’ll be a great game. Watching last season’s Salford and Leigh games, it was a very skilful game, so it’ll be a good test for us.”
One of the star players of Leigh’s Betfred Challenge Cup winning team was halfback, Lachlan Lam, who slotted a drop-goal in golden point to take home the prize, and in the process, the coveted Lance Todd Trophy.
“I’ve played alongside him for 10 years with PNG now and he’s a gun player, very skilful,” Macdonald described a close-friend of his.
“I think taking time away from him is what we’ve got to do. He’s always going to do something spectacular in the game, he’s a good player like that, so we’ve just got to dim it down a bit and get on top of him.”
To hear our full chat with Nene, click here to head to our YouTube channel.
