Daryl Powell’s delight at Warrington’s win was tempered by Gareth Widdop’s injury
We round-up the best quotes from the coaches on Day 2 of the Betfred Super League’s Magic Weekend in Newcastle….
Rowley rues slow start from Salford
Paul Rowley believes his Salford Red Devils side left themselves with too much to do after going down 30-18 to Huddersfield Giants in the opening game on Day 2 of Magic Weekend.
Two tries from Jermaine McGillvary helped lay the foundations for the Giants to move up to third in the Super League table by claiming victory at St James’ Park.
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Sam Luckley celebrated his try at St James’ Park with a nod to Newcastle great Alan Shearer!
The Red Devils did threaten a comeback early in the second half after tries from Brodie Croft and Newcastle native Sam Luckley, but were ultimately outclassed by Huddersfield.
“We looked like a team that had just stepped off the bus after a three-hour journey and they looked like a team that had been having Swedish massages,” Rowley said.
“We were slow starting and lacked energy and gave ourselves too much of a deficit.
“But we were beaten by a better team, who are where they are in the league because they deserve to be there. I’ve nothing but respect for them as a club.”
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Huddersfield Giants head coach Ian Watson says Ash Golding made a huge difference off the bench as they overcame Salford Red Devils on Magic Weekend.
The win for the Giants came on the same day head coach Ian Watson signed a contract extension to stay at the John Smith’s Stadium until at least the end of 2026, ending rumours of a switch to the NRL.
“I speak to people from the NRL quite a bit,” Watson said. “I had some agents contact me and ask me whether I would be interested in going over there but I didn’t speak to any of the clubs on the back of that.”
The former Salford boss was full of praise for Huddersfield’s performance too, hailing their resilience in the match.
“I thought we were really good,” Watson said. “We spoke a lot in the week about resilience and getting back to our processes because we definitely fell off them against Hull KR and Castleford – it was a real tough, resilient performance.”
Widdop set to miss rest of season, confirms Powell
Gareth Widdop is set to miss the rest of the 2022 Super League season after suffering a dislocated shoulder in Warrington Wolves’ win over Catalans Dragons.
Widdop, capable of playing at full-back or in the halves, suffered the injury in the process of scoring the opening try of the game with just three minutes on the clock and immediately left the field.
Wolves head coach Daryl Powell now expects the England international to be out for the rest of the campaign.
“He’s dislocated his shoulder and I’d be pretty certain he won’t play again this year,” Powell said.
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Warrington Wolves head coach Daryl Powell says that his team want to have a crack at the top six after their great performance against Catalans Dragons.
“It’s really tough for him. He’s one of the bravest players you’re likely to see. It took about 10 minutes to get back in and he’s in a lot of pain. It had to be put back in and that’s a big injury.”
Powell was full of praise for the way his side rebounded from last week’s disappointing loss to Salford to brush aside a team which started the weekend in third place in the Super League table and believes his players have proved they have what it takes to launch an unlikely play-off push.
“It gives us a platform and something to build on,” Powell said. “I keep showing the players the table and there’s no reason to start worrying about it, we just have to go on a run.”
Catalans suffered their own blow as captain Ben Garcia was forced off with a nasty cut and head coach Steve McNamara laid bare the extent of the injury.
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Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara says his team have to perform better than today after being beaten comfortably by Warrington Wolves.
“It’s nearly taken his ear off,” McNamara said, adding: “It couldn’t be stitched.
“We’re having to see if he’ll have surgery now and maybe hold our flight back or if he’ll have to get his own way back. We’re waiting to see what the plastic surgeon says.”
Garcia joined an increasing list of absent Catalans players, with at least eight first-team regulars missing against the Wolves due to a mixture of injury and suspension, but McNamara refused to make excuses.
“We weren’t good enough, we offered too much time and space to Warrington and if you give them that, then we got what we deserved,” McNamara said.
McGuire’s sympathy for kicker Coote
Danny McGuire was quick to stick up for Lachlan Coote after the full-back’s woes with the boot in Hull Kingston Rovers’ 34-28 derby defeat to Hull FC in the final match of the weekend.
The Robins outscored their opponents by six tries to five, including a hat-trick from stand-off Mikey Lewis, and also had four disallowed, but Lachlan Coote had an off day with the boot, succeeding with just two of his six attempts at goal.
McGuire, who has stepped into the shoes of Tony Smith until the arrival of new head coach Willie Peters, refused to use the disallowed tries as an excuse for the defeat and sprang to the defence of Coote.
“Goal-kicking is not easy, I was useless at it,” he said. “Cootey practises like nobody I’ve seen before.
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Hull KR interim head coach Danny McGuire says his players ‘did the badge proud’ despite being narrowly defeated by their rivals Hull FC.
“There are no problems there. He will be the first on the training field on Wednesday and probably the last one off it. It would have been nice if they’d have gone over but just wasn’t to be today.
“I’ll need to watch the disallowed tries again, but it’s gone. There are no issues there, I’m not looking to make excuses.”
Hull FC were without 12 players, with head coach Brett Hodgson drafting in loan signings Jack Walker, Josh Simm and Ellis Longstaff and giving Super League debuts to academy products Matty Laidlaw and Charlie Severs.
Longstaff, a 20-year-old second rower brought in from Warrington, scored two tries in a memorable performance, while St Helens winger Simm also got on the scoresheet to the delight of Hodgson.
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Ellis Longstaff puts Hull FC ahead on debut against rivals Hull KR at Magic Weekend.
“We’ve faced a bit of adversity in the last six weeks, with players not being available and a couple of results going against us,” Hodgson said.
“That was the catalyst for a little bit of change and I thought the changes we made this week were pivotal to our performance. They gave the boys a bit of a bounce and I think we saw that with a bit of freedom in how way we played.
“It’s one performance and there are still many things we need to improve, but at the same time it was about getting the win and I’m really thankful that we did. We got a bit lucky, to be honest, but we haven’t had much over the last period.”
