Hull FC owner Adam Pearson fails in bid to lure coach Ian Watson from Salford Red Devils

Speaking after watching his side snatch a 12-10 victory to condemn reigning Super League champions St Helens to their first league defeat since March, Watson confirmed he had spoken to the Black and Whites chairman Adam Pearson about his club’s coaching vacancy but says he will be honouring his contract with Salford.

“Hull came forward and I can’t speak highly enough of them,” he said. “They’ve been really professional and did everything the right way.

“They contacted the club asking if they could have permission to speak to me and the club gave them permission.

“I spoke to Adam who talked about what was important to him and his family at Hull and the Hull club and making sure they were right going forward.

“My concern are my players at Salford and, with the timing and the circumstances and everything else that’s going on with Covid - my girls are the in the final year of their A-levels and GCSEs - it’s probably not right for us at the moment. “I’m flattered to be considered to be honest. As you go forward, you never know. I want to challenge myself and see how far I can go.

“I’d love to go and coach in the NRL one day but there’s a process to go through to get there and I’m still enjoying what I’m doing here.”

Watson, who in the last 12 months has guided the unfancied Red Devils to a maiden Grand Final and a first Challenge Cup final for 51 years, is contracted to the club until the end of 2022.

After losing to Leeds at Wembley and conceding 58 points to Wigan last Friday, Watson’s men returned to winning ways in dramatic fashion against an understrength St Helens at Headingley.

Winger Krisnan Inu marked the 250th appearance of his career by pouncing for the all-important try five minutes from the end to bring the scores level and then held his nerve to land the match-winning conversion to break the hearts of a youthful Saints team. With an eye on Friday’s derby against Wigan, Saints coach Kristian Woolf opted to field a vastly-inexperienced side with five debutants who pushed Reds all the way.

The youngsters looked set to extend the club’s winning run to 11 matches after building up a 10-0 lead thanks to a try from hooker Josh Eaves and three goals from Lewis Dodd.

But they crucially conceded a try to Salford second rower Pauli Pauli just before the break and then again near the end when Inu broke their hearts.

Woolf said: “I’m really proud of the effort, I thought we did a great job and for 75 minutes we had an opportunity to win.

“A lot of blokes will take a lot of lessons out of the last couple of minutes. Every play counts at this level.”

Woolf confirmed the club will appeal prop Alex Walmsley’s two-match ban which threatens to rule him out of Friday’s derby with Wigan and the trip to Catalans Dragons on Thursday week.

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