Daniel Holdsworth appointed captain of Salford City Reds

Daniel Holdsworth will lead Salford in their last season at the Willows, and the Australian believes that the arrival of eight new recruits led by his former Canterbury team-mate Luke Patten gives the City Reds the potential to leave their ancient home in style. Holdsworth, the 26-year-old playmaker from Perth who was one of the outstanding imports in his first season in the Super League in 2010, has been appointed to succeed Malcolm Alker, the veteran hooker who has joined Shaun McRae's coaching staff after retiring on medical advice. "It's a huge year for everyone at the club, and I'm looking forward to the responsibility of being captain," Holdsworth said at the Trafford Centre, where Salford maintained their tradition of staging the first pre-season media day of the winter. "It's great just to have General [Patten] over in England with me, because he's one of my best mates, and I'm lucky enough to have him here at Salford. I only had good things to say about the club when he asked me about joining, and he's going to be a real big asset to the Reds." Patten, who turned 31 last week, has been one of Australia's most consistent full-backs for the last decade, making 224 appearances for the Bulldogs and playing in their 2004 Grand Final winning team. McRae believes he is capable of matching the impact made by another full-back, Brett Hodgson, at Huddersfield in the last two seasons. "They're very similar in the intelligence they bring to a team," he said. "One of the things that sometimes gets overlooked is how important it is to have that controller at the back of the team. That's what the General is, as his name suggests." "If I left a legacy here like Brett has done at Huddersfield, that would be very rewarding," Patten said. "I guess that was part of the appeal of coming to Salford, who have so much tradition and are heading in the right direction with the move to a new stadium coming up. Playing with DJ [Holdsworth] again is going to be great, too. He's always been a confidence player, and having the captaincy will take that to another level." Salford are due to move into the stadium, which will certainly raise their profile as it is beneath Barton Bridge next to the M60 motorway, in November. It will initially have a 12,000 capacity, which will increase when the £26m development is completed. Huddersfield have appointed the England stand-off Kevin Brown as their new captain following Hodgson's move to Warrington, and are expected to confirm the signing of the South Sydney centre Jamie Simpson. Wigan have confirmed that their new Australian signing Brett Finch needs surgery after suffering a recurrence of a neck problem in pre-season training, meaning his debut is likely to be delayed by months rather than weeks.