Play-Offs: The making of Macdonald

Salford Red Devils centre Nene Macdonald is hopeful of continuing a dream week with a Betfred Super League Play-Off victory over Leigh Leopards following his selection in the 2024 Dream Team.

Macdonald has played an integral role in the Red Devils' rise to fourth place this season appearing on 24 occasions and crossing for 12 tries following his move from Leeds Rhinos and the Papua New Guinea international feels the club are proving a few doubters wrong:

“It’s been a great season for us. We had a lot of motivation at the start of the year with everyone thinking we were going to be a bottom four team and losing some key players. 

“To come out the way we have with a smaller group, not having the best facilities and the ability to pick and choose players when they’re carrying injuries – I think it’s a massive achievement for us not only as a playing group but also the coaching staff and everyone involved at Salford.” 

Despite being proud of what the Red Devils have already accomplished in 2024, Macdonald believes the club can go further when they face the Leopards on Friday evening in front of what is set to be a record home attendance for Salford.

The Red Devils' home form has underpinned their terrific Super League campaign losing just one regular season game at home – a late loss to trophy-laded Wigan Warriors – and Macdonald is hopeful this form will continue Friday evening.

Flying start ?

Nene Macdonald has hit the ground running at @SalfordDevils ?#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/vRgK1yrwxp

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 8, 2024

He said: “You try to make your home a fortress for yourself and the team, as does everyone else in the division. 

“Playing in front of your home fans you don’t want to let them down so we’ve shown how good we can be at home this season and we need to take that into Friday night. 

“It’s great we have a home game but Leigh are still a very tough team at the end of the day and they’ve finished the backend of the season on the up. They have a strong forward pack and some good outside backs so it’s going to be a massive challenge for us. 

“It’s finals footy and we are going to be up for a big game this week!” 

Macdonald spent a year with the Leopards – then known as the Centurions – as the club earned promotion from the Betfred Championship before moving to Leeds Rhinos.  

However, the centre feels we are now seeing the best of him under the stewardship of Paul Rowley whose brand of rugby has entertained since taking the helm at Salford:

“Paul Rowley’s style really suits my style and we’ve been given the green light to pull the trigger as a group when we want to and not to be stopped from expressing ourselves on the field.  

“I think you see the bigger teams try and push teams into the corners whereas we don’t necessarily have the biggest forward pack but we’ve been given the green light to pull the trigger, go hard and try things when we want to and I think that has worked in our favour.” 

Watch Salford Red Devils v Leigh Leopards' Betfred Super League Play-Off Eliminator on Friday 27 September, live on Sky Sports (K.O. 8pm).

Tickets are available for this fixture here!