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Players nervous ahead of big decision

17/ 7/2008

MALCOLM ALKER COLUMN: UNTIL a couple of days ago the players hadn’t really spoken about the Super League franchise decision, due on Tuesday, as we were too busy getting on with earning a living.

But with all the hype that’s been going on within the game this week, we’ve started to get a bit nervous about it all.

It’s not just a matter of playing at a higher level for us - this is our careers and livelihoods on the line.

The decision will affect our families and our whole lives and that’s a scary thought.

Especially because it’s out of our hands.

As far as the players are concerned we’ve done all we can performance-wise.

To be top of the league and winning a trophy already shows that we’re getting it right on the field this season. And everyone in the game respects the set up we have off the pitch, which will stand us in good stead.

So we’re confident that the right decision will be made, but I’d be lying if I said the players weren’t worried too.

We all want to be back where Salford belong and that’s in Super League.

But for now, it’s something we’ve got to try and put to the back our minds as we prepare for another tough game on Sunday at Featherstone.

They’ll be full of confidence after beating Celtic and we’ll have to be ready for them.

We ran up another big score against Dewsbury but we also shipped 22 points, which is very disappointing.

We’ve had a chat this week and the defence have taken that points haul badly.

We pride ourselves on being tough in defence, yet we conceded points from right on our goal line.

Whether this is down to bad tackling technique, fatigue or bad marking up, it’s something that needs addressing before this weekend’s game. We’ve worked hard on it this week so hopefully we’ll be back to our mean best on Sunday.

I’d like to congratulate my teammate Stuart Littler on passing a massive milestone this week.

Stuart scored his 100th try at Dewsbury and that’s no mean feat.

He’s been a great servant for this club and deserves the accolade of getting his ton.

It’s his testimonial year next season and what better way to celebrate than being back in Super League?

We’ll all have our fingers crossed on Tuesday.