Salford City Reds hooker Wayne Godwin insists things have stepped up a gear at the club since the arrival of head coach Brian Noble, both on and off the pitch.
The Reds recorded their second win under the former Great Britain boss at the weekend, climbing off the foot of Super League with a Magic Weekend win over Widnes Vikings.
And Godwin, who also played under ‘Nobby’ at Bradford Bulls, believes the club is starting to build.
“He’s stepped the intensity up and he manages to get the best out of every individual,” he told MM. “There’s competition for places and everyone wants to be playing.
“The intensity’s lifted in training and all his preparations have been great. Everything we need as players he gives us so there’s no excuses then out on the field.
“If the coaches, physio staff and conditioners give us everything during the week it’s simply down us to perform – that’s the way it worked last week.
“We’re just looking to build on that now and hopefully we can keep picking up these wins.”
The Reds travel to the Halliwell Jones on Sunday to face an in-form Warrington side, fresh from their eight-try demolition of St Helens at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
And with Wolves’ Salford-born captain Adrian Morley back to his best, returning from a three-month injury layout to score last Saturday, Godwin admits the Reds are in for a stern test.
“Warrington’s going to be tough,” he added. “We’ve needed to regroup and get a good week’s practise in to try and beat the in-form Wolves.
“We’ve already played them at their place in the Cup this season and it didn’t go too well for us – they scored a lot of points past us.
“They’ve got a lot of quality and they’re playing at a fast pace, with good in-form players. People like Mickey Higham, [Richie] Myler and Mozza’s back now.
“Stef Ratchford’s having an outstanding season and they’ve got some quality strike players, so we’ve just got to work hard and regroup.
“We know we got a good win last weekend but we won’t fall in love with ourselves, we know it’s going to be tough and we have to build for Sunday.”
Two tries from Jordan James helped Salford kick off the second afternoon of Magic Weekend in style, as 62,042 fans flocked to Eastlands over the two days.
And Godwin, who missed out on last year’s Weekend with a broken arm, believes the spectacle should remain in Manchester.
“It was great to play this year,” he explained. “A great atmosphere and great facilities – the lads really enjoyed it.
“It was a good, entertaining game and the crowd were outstanding as well, they felt really close.
“I played at Cardiff and at Edinburgh but I think by far the best is the Etihad – I loved it.”
Image courtesy of UKrugbyleague, via YouTube, with thanks.
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