Salford City Reds head coach Brian Noble has hailed the impact of the new additions to his backroom staff ahead of his side’s trip to face Warrington Wolves.
Stuart Donlan was brought in from Castleford Tigers to replace Sean Long as Noble’s number two with former Hull FC coach Andy Hay also given a coaching role.
Warrington have already beaten the Reds twice this season, but Noble believes his new coaches are vital to their recent improvement, crediting them with the win over Widnes Vikings at Magic Weekend.
“Their contribution, along with Alan [Hunte] who is still there of course, has been huge,” he said.
“What we have had the facility to do is look at individuals and improve our coaching if that’s possible.
“We can get some more information into the players, the ‘whys and wheres’ and ‘cause and effect’ of everything.
“The added bonus of having some extra sessions and the players’ commitment to working a lot harder is probably the reason we got the right result against Widnes.”
A ruthless Warrington humbled Salford 52-6 in their last encounter, but Noble is confident his players will build on last week’s result and work hard defensively.
“I think we’ve got some points in us if we get to the right end of the field,” he added.
“Our challenge has been what the other mob do when they’ve got the ball and getting out of our own half.
“It’s really good to get on the right end of a result [against Widnes] like that because many times they haven’t.
“It gives us that element of knowing what to do – now we know in the closing stages of games to get down the other end of the field and cause problems for somebody else.”
The Reds currently sit second-bottom in Super League, level on points with Castleford and two points adrift of the Vikings and Wakefield Wildcats.
Image courtesy of Super League TV, via YouTube, with thanks
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