IAN Watson insists fears Salford would not survive the Covid-19 shutdown were calmed by the club’s openness.
The Red Devils live as close to the edge as you can get and many thought the near five months without a match may push them over it.
But Watson revealed bosses kept everyone in the loop so there would be no Toronto-style surprises or collapses.
He said: “After family, that’s the next kind of thing you worry about but the club was really good in keeping in contact with us.
“It let us know what was happening and spoke to the players and told them, ‘Listen, this is how it is.’
“Players got full pay just after lockdown then had a reduction but all along we’ve been told where the club is at.
“By the club being open, it gave a sense of confidence there would still be a club there and something for us to come back to.”
Salford get restarted against Hull FC on Sunday and Watson will be without Oliver Roberts, Kevin Brown and Andy Ackers.
Morgan Escare, who has signed from next year, could play as a trialist, though, which could be a bad thing for them as he is still technically a free agent.
He added: “He’s on a trialist form at the moment. Hopefully we can keep him long-term this year as we’ve just started a month’s solid work to get him where we need to get him.
“It would be a shame after a month’s trial to have to let him go somewhere else, only to start again in pre-season.
“His strengths are obvious in terms of his speed but we’ve been doing a lot of defence work with him.”
Meanwhile, Castleford’s Liam Watts will miss Saturday’s clash with Catalans after cutting his arm with a saw at home!
The prop, who required stitches, said: “It was just an accident but there is nothing I can do about it. It’s frustrating, I have waited all this time to get back playing and then I have done this.”
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