Manchester, United Kingdom--Salford assistant coach Ian Watson may need to come out of retirement to solve the Red Devils' current injury crisis, according to head coach Iestyn Harris.
The Red Devils were without four suspended players for their narrow 22-20 defeat to Castleford on Sunday, including former Tiger Rangi Chase, and their injury list is now well into double figures.
Adrian Morley, Wayne Godwin and Liam Hood all sustained injuries at the AJ Bell Stadium to add to an already lengthy list of casualties.
Indeed it was only the late addition of Wigan loan duo Oliver Gildart and James Greenwood that meant Salford didn't need to call on Watson this week.
But with Kiwi full-back Kevin Locke, who scored two tries in the narrow defeat, also nursing a groin problem, these are testing times at Salford.
"He was pretty close to playing today and he'll be closer next week," Harris said of former Wales international half-back Watson.
"He's been upping his training just in case. We're potentially without a nine.
"We had a lot of guys out there who were busted. We only had one change at the end and Scott Taylor did 80 minutes today, which was a terrific effort.
"Liam Hood has gone to hospital, Mozza (Morley) has turned an ankle and Goodwin got smacked around the head and looks as though he's going to come under the concussion rule.
"We're really disappointed not to win but the effort was terrific. We had a lot of players out of position and we had to find a way to attack because we only had one half.
"We caused them some trouble, it was one of those games that got away from us."
Victory for Castleford sees them leapfrog Salford into sixth, level on points with Warrington in fifth.
On Friday, the Wolves ended Super League leaders Leeds Rhinos' unbeaten home record this season with a 29-10 victory at Headingley.
AFP
