Kopczak: Head coach is spoilt for choice

Salford forward Craig Kopczak believes the club’s new arrivals will provide head coach Ian Watson with some real selection dilemmas in 2017.

The Red Devils have made brought in a number of new additions including props Lama Tasi and Lee Mossop, stand-off Todd Carney and hooker Kris Brining.

“They’re all excellent signings and will provide a lot of headaches for Ian,” Kopczak said.

“It’s going to put people on their toes and it’s going to make people play better because people want to step in their shoes.”

Salford continued their pre-season preparations with a 13-6 win away to Halifax, a week after their victory over Rochdale. But Kopczak admitted there was still areas to work on.

“Credit to Halifax they really give it to us physically,” he said.

“For us going forward there’s improvement to be made but there’s a lot of positives to take out of that game as well.”

A Welsh international, Kopczak is relishing the prospect of representing the Red Dragon at the World Cup later this year.

Wales’ first match is against Papa New Guinea at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.

“It’s one of the biggest stages that you can play on,” he said.

“It wasn’t the best of World Cups for us a nation last time but looking forward now we want to put things in better perspective because we’ve worked hard to get there.

“We’ve got a real tough group with Papa New Guinea, Fiji and Ireland so it’s going to be really interesting but also exciting.”

The 30-year old is also relishing the prospect of competing against the likes of Scotland, Wales and England.

“It’s fantastic for the game every nation now is getting stronger,” he said.

“Who knows they might bring Great Britain back at some stage which would be another good thing to have.”