Salford Red Devils v Leeds Rhinos: Super League preview
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 09/04/16 11:48am
Leeds captain Danny McGuire insists there is no crisis at Headingley as the Super League champions look to kick-start their dreadful season at Salford on Saturday evening.
The Red Devils have won just one of 36 previous Super League meetings with the Rhinos and have not enjoyed a home victory of any kind since a 21-12 Regal Trophy success at The Willows in November 1993.
But after winning only two of nine matches so far in their title defence and coming off back-to-back defeats at the hands of two of last year's bottom four teams, Brian McDermott's men can take nothing for granted.
Even the eagerly-awaited return of McGuire, who damaged knee ligaments in the opening game of the season, could do little to stop the rot as the Rhinos suffered a 30-10 home defeat by Hull KR in their latest match last Friday.
It's a really tough period that we're in. We're low on confidence, you can definitely see that within the squad.
Danny McGuire
"It wasn't the way I imagined it going," said McGuire, who inherited the captaincy in the winter from Kevin Sinfield.
"When Mac told me I was going to be captain, I obviously didn't think I was going to be injured 25 minutes into the first game. That's our sport. We have plenty of downs and plenty of ups.
"I don't want to make any excuses. We've had our fair share of injuries but look across Super League and all the teams are struggling. We just need to be better than we are at the minute.
"There are probably no easy answers. We need to fix it pretty quick really because, with the structure of the competition, you can't afford to be letting teams above you get too far in front.
"I don't think it's a crisis. It's a really tough period that we're in. We're low on confidence, you can definitely see that within the squad."
Huddersfield coach Paul Anderson says he is being forced to reassess his team's goals after winning only one of their opening nine matches but McGuire believes it is still too early to write the champions off.
"To be honest, I haven't looked at the table," he said. "I knew if Huddersfield had have won, that would have put us bottom. I'll give you the old boring answer, we'll prepare well for this game and then focus on the week after that.
"We can't look too far ahead. If we do we'll probably scare ourselves a little bit with where we're at. The table doesn't lie. How we're performing is probably where we're sat in the table.
"We've not got much time to fix it but I know the lads are determined to do whatever it takes to drag ourselves out of it.
"I believe with the players that we've got and with the coaches and everybody working hard that we can get ourselves out of it now and go on a run. It's going to be tough but we're capable of doing that."
McGuire accepts his fragile team face another difficult test against Salford, who have a chance to strengthen their hold on a top-eight spot.
"Salford are a good team," he said. "I've seen them a few times on the telly this year. They throw the ball about really well and they look like they've got a more together squad now than they've had for the last few years.
"They've always had a lot of potential but now they look like a team playing well and working hard for each other.
"It's another tough challenge but that's the competition this year, teams are probably more evenly matched across the board than they have been for a while."
Salford Red Devils: Justin Carney, Michael Dobson, Niall Evalds, Mark Flanagan, George Griffin, Josh Griffin, Josh Jones, Craig Kopczak, Olsi Krasniqi, Ryan Lannon, Tommy Lee, Ben Murdoch, Gareth O'Brien, Junior Sa'u, Matt Sarsfield, Logan Tomkins, Jordan Walne, Adam Walne, Josh Wood.
Leeds Rhinos: Carl Ablett, Mitch Achurch, Jordan Baldwinson, Rob Burrow, Adam Cuthbertson, Brett Delaney, Beau Falloon, Keith Galloway, Mitch Garbutt, Ashton Golding, Ash Handley, Zak Hardaker, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Jordan Lilley, Danny McGuire, Anthony Mullally, Brad Singleton, Liam Sutcliffe, Kallum Watkins.
