The Liam Farrell column: This is a big test of our mental preparation

Wembley is a week away, but all of our focus is on Salford.
Liam Farrell crosses for a try against HuddersfieldLiam Farrell crosses for a try against Huddersfield
Liam Farrell crosses for a try against Huddersfield

It has to be.

Fortunately, we had a similar scenario earlier this season when we played a Super League game before the World Club Challenge, so we know how to take a blinkered approach.

The coaching staff are keeping the focus on this week and, as a player, this is a big one on your own mental preparation.

But this is a huge game in its own right tomorrow.

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If we get a result, it will not only be good preparation for Wembley, but it would move us closer to the top-four, which is where we want to be at the end of the year.

If other results go in our favour, we could be just a point off fourth.

Salford have enjoyed a great season but they have had a pretty bad run recently, and I know what my though process would be in that position – you’d want to put it right as quickly as possible.

We need to make sure they don’t do it against us. As long as we perform, we’ll give ourselves a chance.

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And I thought we showed some good signs in our 18-4 win against Huddersfield last week.

It was certainly a big improvement on how we turned up against Leeds the previous week – that just wasn’t us, at all.

The mood was really depressing after the Leeds game, I said last week it was one of our worst performances of the year, and it was good we responded in the right way.

I thought it was a good performance last Friday.

We managed the weather pretty well, our attitude was good, and we limited Huddersfield – who had been flying – to one try from a kick.

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I complained that Budgie (Joe Burgess) was taken out off the ball in the build-up, but the refs didn’t see it that way.

I didn’t protest... I’ve learned my lesson from when I was sinbinned at Hull!

We kept to a simple game-plan.

It may have looked boring at times but it was pretty effective, and it got us an important win.

Hopefully we can get another tomorrow.

Thanks for all the messages congratulating me on becoming a dad.

Arthur is certainly ruling the house! But he’s been pretty good and hopefully he stays that way.

It has made me wonder what I did with my time beforehand, but I wouldn’t change anything.