Round Two of the Super League season kicks off at the AJ Bell Stadium on Thursday night when the Salford Red Devils host St Helens in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
These two sides suffered completely different outcomes on the opening week of the season. St Helens were too good for Huddersfield while Salford took a bit of a mauling at Hull FC, a result they won’t want reminding of too often.
It might be that Hull FC are actually dark horses for a good campaign this season but even so shipping 42pts on the opening night of the season isn’t going to do much for confidence.
Salford have a number of players trying to bed into their side and on the evidence of last week it is fair to say they haven’t gelled yet. Ian Watson has made one change to his squad with Greg Johnson replacing Junior Sa’u.
St Helens looked pretty solid in foul conditions against Huddersfield last week and you would have thought they would have taken an awful lot of confidence from that as they look to improve on last season.
That win did come at a cost though as they have lost James Roby for this match. Kieron Cunningham has given call ups to Morgan Knowles and Calvin Wellington. He will also be without his centre Dominique Peyroux for this one.
Salford look a bit of a shambles to me. I get the impression nobody really knows who is directing the ship both on and off the field. Their coaching staff changes as often as their playing staff and no matter how much money the doctor lobs at it there are no signs of improvement!
Contrast that to St Helens and they are a proficiently run club who have a brilliant academy so when they get injuries they have quality youngsters ready to come in and it is easy to see why they are successful and Salford aren’t.
Going back to this match and Saints are giving up 14pts here and I’m not sure that is enough. If Salford defend like they did last week this Saints side are going to rip them to shreds and I’m not sure Salford have the kicking game or the mite in their forwards to pierce the St Helens as often as they are going to need to in order to stay close.
Salford need to start well else this could get messy and while it isn’t ideal that Roby is missing I’m not so sure he’ll be needed here anyway. I’ll take Saints to cover the start in style in this one.
Back St Helens (-14) to beat Salford for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
