SUPER LEAGUE PREVIEW | Salford Red Devils vs Wakefield Trinity
SQUAD NEWS
Salford Red Devils
Salford picked up a first away win in 11 months last time out, winning 30-12 at Huddersfield last Sunday.
They have won three of their five home games so far this season, so will be confident in welcoming Wakefield to the AJ Bell Stadium.
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Josh Jones has started every match for the Red Devils so far this season, but an injury suffered in the win at the Giants means that he misses out.
Derrell Olpherts and Lee Mossop are also taken out of the squad, with Luke Burgess, Tyrone McCarthy and Jake Shorrocks brought in.
Salford 19-man squad: Johnson, Welham, Sa’u, Evalds, Lui, Littlejohn, Kopczak, Tomkins, Griffin, Hauraki, Flanagan, Tasi, Lannon, Burgess, Nakubuwai, Wood, Bibby, Shorrocks.
Wakefield Trinity
Last week Wakefield ended a five match losing run with an impressive 24-20 win over the league leaders, St Helens.
Trinity have lost in trips to Wigan, Warrington and Hull FC since their last away victory at Catalans in February.
Chris Chester has the 17 that did so well on Sunday available to him again with just one change to the squad, as Pauli Pauli takes the place of Chris Annakin.
Wakefield 19-man squad: Grix, Johnstone, Tupou, Lyne, Jones-Bishop, Miller, Finn, Wood, England, Ashurst, Kirmond, Randell, Horo, Pauli, Arona, Huby, Arundel, Hirst, Baldwinson.
HEAD TO HEAD
The meeting of the two sides at the Mobile Rocket Stadium in February couldn’t have been much closer, with only Gareth O’Brien’s missed conversion after the siren sealing a 14-12 win for Wakefield.
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Wakefield have won the last four Super League meetings between the two sides with Salford’s last win coming back in 2016, although they did knock Trinity out of the Challenge Cup last season.
KEY BATTLE- Robert Lui vs Liam Finn
Not for the first time this season, Robert Lui ran the show last week at Huddersfield, and his creative influence is absolutely crucial for a Salford side that has nobody else with quite the same abilities.
Meanwhile, the return of Liam Finn last week was crucial for Wakefield as they ended their losing run, and any victory for them tends to come from his creativity and game management with the boot.
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In the reverse Finn’s goal kicking was the difference between the two sides, while Lui was the catalyst for the second half comeback with Salford’s first try and had a hand in their second.
Whoever wins this one will most likely have their creative half-back to thank for it.
THE IMPORTANT DETAILS
Date: Friday 20 March
Venue: AJ Bell Stadium
Kick-off: 8:00pm
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
WHO WILL WIN?
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