IAN Watson admitted he has some decisions to make after Salford defeated Hull – but he has more injury problems to deal with.
Weller Hauraki left the ground on crutches after limping off with a foot problem while Justin Carney was the victim of a ‘cannonball’ tackle by Carlos Tuimavave.
But coach Watson believes the performance from his side showed they can cause problems in Super League this year.
He said: “Apart from the injuries, it’s been the perfect pre-season for us. All the boys have done exactly what we asked for.
“Weller is having scans done on his foot – he just felt something go underneath it but Justin fortunately came out of the challenge.
“But I was worried when I saw Carlos go in. I thought he could’ve chosen a better way of going in but fortunately, Justin rolled out of it.”
Salford are determined not to go through the drama of the Million Pound Game again and Gareth O’Brien, whose extra time drop goal saved their Super League lives, was at it with the boot again.
Only this time, it was conversions to tries from Junior Sa’u and George Griffin as Watson’s men laid down a marker before the start of the season.
And with Aussie playmaker Todd Carney to come in, with a UK visa hearing in Australia on Tuesday, it offered plenty of hope for 2017.
Watson added: “There’s a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and Todd’s been doing some work that we’ve given him to do so that he won’t be too far behind when he comes.
“Hopefully he’ll be here towards the end of the week and he won’t be too far off getting up to speed.”
Hull’s biggest concern will be waiting to see if Tuimavave faces a disciplinary charge for his tackle attempt on Carney.
Hull had plenty of opportunities in the second half and hit back through Steve Michaels but former Hull KR man Kris Welham pounced to put the game beyond doubt.
And Hull boss Lee Radford, who has taken former Hull KR man Kevin Larroyer on trial, admitted: “The mindset for the first 25 minutes was one of a training ground run, there was no respect for the ball whatsoever.
“We defended well for long periods but we had to. I’m disappointed with the competitiveness of some of our players.
“It was our first friendly together and I thought we were going to compete harder than we did.”
Castleford showed their intent ahead of the season as new boys Zak Hardaker and Jesse Sene-Lefao added to Rangi Chase and Grant Millington’s scores in a 22-6 win at St Helens.
Wakefield beat Sheffield 50-6 but Leeds lost 35-34 at Doncaster while Geoff Toovey’s first match after arriving in Bradford ended in a 25-24 defeat at Keighley.
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