JOE Greenwood continued to repay the faith placed in him by coach Keiron Cunningham with another fine display as Saints coasted to victory over the Red Devils.
At one stage the tall second rower was Featherstone-bound, but Greenwood’s attitude in training and pre-season was enough to get a foot in the coach’s door and again on Thursday he demonstrated a desire to grab his chance with both hands – scoring two tries, running hard on to the ball, showing fine offloading skills and tackling keenly.
Saints showed no sign of keeping their powder dry for the World Club Challenge showdown with South Sydney when they rattled in 10 tries against an admittedly woeful Salford.
The Red Devils always spend big and promise so much, but again they folded as soon as the Saints let rip.
But what was particularly pleasing from a Saints point of view was the way their pack once again stood up to what should have been a physical challenge from an abrasive Salford unit featuring Gareth Hock, wannabe boxer Corey Paterson and several other handy units.
Although the game was marred by Hock being yellow-carded for a challenge on Mose Masoe after earlier being put on report for using his knees on Makinson, Saints rose above that without backing down.
It should have been a potential banana skin but an opening try from classy centre Mark Percival, who used a swivel of the hips and powerful fend, got the ball rolling.
A beefed-up Jordan Turner used less sophisticated tools to force his way over before Greenwood ran a smart line for another touchdown goaled by Percival.
Salford got a foothold they did not deserve when Saints kicked through a speculative one on the last tackle power play – but it left speedster Ben Jones-Bishop with an open run against two props.
Michael Dobson’s goal cut the deficit to 14-6, but Saints had the last word of the half when Luke Thompson took Jon Wilkin’s pass to power in.
And a rout was on the cards as soon as Makinson gave his opposite number the slip on the right flank for a first minute score.
The alert Percival grabbed his second from a fortuitous bounce and the floodgates were open with fit again Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook powering in from close range, Greenwood and then Turner going in for their seconds.
The enthusiastic Andre Savelio had the last word from a high kick well caught and released by the classy Percival.
The half century looked good on the scoreboard – but equally impressive is keeping the opposition to just one try for the third first class game in succession.
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