Godwin ready for Odsal return
Wayne Godwin‘s departure only months before the start of the 2011 campaign came as a shock to most Bulls fans and this Sunday the 29-year-old returns, wearing nine for the Salford City Reds.
The signing of Matt Diskin was bound to make Godwin fight for his position but where most would have walked, the former Castleford Tiger vowed to fight on through the pre-season.
He said: “I had no intention of leaving, I had another year on my deal and I was fighting it out with Heath (L’estrange) and Disko (Matt Diskin).
“I was prepared to fight for my place, I did the full pre-season so I showed what I was all about but then the opportunity came up for the number nine shirt at Salford.
“I spoke to the Bulls and for me, I felt was ready to be a starting nine, I wanted that game time as well.
“Like I said, I was up for a fighting for my place at Bradford but the opportunity came about, Salford came in, the two clubs agreed and I took the chance.
“I’m now getting the game time I want and I feel I’m starting to get back to where I want to be, playing some quality rugby.”
Godwin played a key role in last month’s resounding defeat of the Bulls and admits since getting that out of the way he has settled in.
Even now, he regularly meets with his former team mates and is a regular in the Nando’s, Starbucks and Costa clubs which are becoming a vital part of being a professional rugby league player.
“It’s going to be very different and obviously quite strange to come back to Odsal as a Salford player but I’ve already played against the boys this year so I’ve got that out of the way,” added Godwin.
“I had a good three years at Bradford and I made a lot of good friends in the players, coaches and the staff.
“Everyone was great with me and I had a great time, I keep in touch with most of the boys as well. I’m always at Nando’s, Starbucks or Costa so even now I’m still catching up with the boys.
“I still always look out for the Bulls results and watch out for the games, you never forget that feeling you had when playing for a side, you just move on to the next challenge.
“For me, it’s not about missing it though. I miss being around the lads but I have settled well at Salford and the boys are great here.”
Bradford showed a huge level of resolve in their narrow Challenge Cup defeat against Super League champions Wigan and despite going down to 12 men in the first half, they showed real signs of major improvement.
The signing of Ben Jeffries has without doubt made the difference and Godwin agreed, Salford must be at their best if they are going to get a result this Sunday
He said: “The Bulls are a bit like us at the minute, they’re inconsistent but I watched the Challenge Cup game at the weekend against Wigan and there were massive improvements.
“The trouble for Bradford is that they seem to suffer through a bad run of injuries. Most clubs suffer but Bradford seems to suffer than bit more than any other club.
“In this spell they’ve lost some key players like Scrut’s (Nick Scruton) and BK (Brett Kearney) but they’ll play us and they’ll be no doubt full of confidence after last week.”