The Red Devils host fellow top four hopefuls Wakefield Trinity tomorrow night following a break from Super 8s action.
Form
Ian Watson’s men currently sit 7th in the Super League Super 8s but trail Wakefield, their opponents this weekend, in 4th by just two points. The Red Devils are yet to win since the Super 8s stage got underway but a victory this weekend against Trinity will get Salford right back in the mix for a place at Old Trafford.
Wakefield have also had a difficult run as of late winning just one of their ten matches but, surprisingly, Trinity still find themselves inside the top four and with real hope of making it to the Grand Final at Old Trafford. Trinity have lost all of their last six outings conceding over 36 points in each.
The key battle
Tyrone McCarthy arrived at the The Salford Stadium last month and has already begun to impress with his performances on the field. McCarthy is yet to feature at the AJ Bell, however, after having to pull out of the defeat to Castleford in the warm-up.
On the opposite side Wakefield’s main man is Tongan powerhouse David Fifita. Often coming from the interchange bench Fifita brings an added threat in the back-row and can cause any defence serious issues.
It will be interesting to see which of these forwards can get on top early on. With both men dangerous in attack and solid in defence it could turn out to be a real battle of the big men on Friday night.
The meetings this season
The Red Devils are yet to beat Trinity in league outings this season but do hold a Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Wakefield in their most recent meeting.
Ian Watson’s side put in a dominant performance with scores from Ryan Lannon, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Niall Evalds, Craig Kopczak and Greg Johnson earned Salford their first semi-final berth for twenty years.
However, Wakefield edged out the Red Devils at the The Salford Stadium earlier in June with Salford almost pulling the game back after going 16 points down. There was another narrow loss for the Red Devils when they travelled to Trinity in March despite Salford scoring four tries inside 12 minutes to almost win the game.
The Squads
Red Devils: Bibby, Brining, Carney, Griffin, Hauraki, Johnson, Jones, Kopczak, Krasniqi, Lannon, Lui, McCarthy, O’Brien, Sa’u, Tomkins, Vatuvei, A. Walne, J. Walne, Welham.
Trinity: Annakin, Arona, Arundel, Ashurst, Caton-Brown, England, Fifita, Finn, Grix, Hadley, Hasson, Hirst, Huby, Jones-Bishop, Kirkmond, Lyne, Miller, Randell, Tupou.
