Written by John Davidson
Salford hooker Joey Lussick says the Red Devils are building as a team and are on the right track when the Super League season resumes.
Super League was shut down on March 16 because of the Coronavirus.
Salford’s last match’s was a stunning comeback win over competition leaders Wigan at home on March 13. The Red Devils fought back from a 12-point deficit to secure an 18-14 victory.
“Wigan put on a really good first half performance and we were probably the opposite, not playing so well,” Lussick told Everything Rugby League.
“We just had to get back to our systems, and credit to us that’s what we did and we were fortunate to hold Wigan off. It was probably the worst time for the season to be stopped, just from our point of view, a bit of confidence, a good win.”
The result was only Salford’s second victory from seven games in 2020. They have lost to St Helens, Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Catalans, but defeated Toronto in round two.
Lussick admits it was going to take Ian Watson’s team some time to gell with a huge amount of player turnover at the end of 2019.
But the Australian is confident the Red Devils have turned a corner.
“We knew it was going to take a bit of time with a new group,” Lussick said.
“Even against Catalans it was a great performance from us as well. Obviously unfortunately we didn’t get the two points, but we definitely are building as a team and we’re on the right track moving forward.
“Statistically it hasn’t been the greatest start. A narrow loss to Huddersfield, we were in the fight against Leeds and then we let ourselves down.
“We feel like we’re starting to kick a bit now and really buy into what ‘Watto’ has put down for us. Obviously the season shutdown is not great but we’ve just got to continue this momentum has best we can.”
👊 Here are our top five tacklers for the 2020 season!
👏 @joeylussick & Luke Yates are in @SuperLeague's top ten!
🤝 Help support our current team, by becoming a squad builder👉https://t.co/6RaqHUkWny pic.twitter.com/SNCVluWTbj
— Salford Red Devils (@SalfordDevils) March 31, 2020
The club made 12 new signings in the off-season, with nine players departing, including Man of Steel Jackson Hastings.
“Losing Jackson’s massive but Kev coming in, Kev’s a seasoned veteran, he’s been around for a long time,” Lussick said.
“Me, Tui and Niall have played together for a long time, so it wasn’t too bad there. I guess it’s every season.
“Some clubs are going to lose players, you’ve just got to get on with it. The group is still as tight as ever.
“We still retained a lot of boys from last year. Even last year we had a pretty good start and then we had a massive slump.
“We’ve just sort of done the reverse. If we can keep on here… we’re definitely not panicking or anything like that. We’re really starting to build now and we feel we’re going in the right direction.”
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