Salford Red Devils gave Leeds Rhinos a little bit of a scare as they narrowly lost at Headingley in a game they had been expected to lose heavily, but head coach Paul Rowley has claimed his side could have come away with more.
With so many off-season stars leaving, two of whom moved to Leeds in both Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers, there are plenty of doubts about Paul Rowley’s side but they stuck in the game at Headingley and were perhaps unlucky in the end.
Leeds Rhinos ran out as 22-16 victors with an Ash Handley brace proving the difference ultimately, the first of which has already been labelled a possible try-of-the-season contender.
Salford had led on multiple occasions but they were pegged back when Handley scored his second and Man of the Match Sam Lisone scored the go-ahead try ten minutes from time to win it for Leeds.
Whilst it’s a loss to start off the Super League campaign, it certainly isn’t as bad as many expected and Paul Rowley even told Sky Sports that his side “deserved a little more” from the match.
His side will receive a boost in the coming weeks when new signing David Nofoaluma arrives from down under with Salford having signed the winger after his Wests Tigers exit.
“We’re really disappointed” – Paul Rowley assesses Salford Red Devils defeat
Sam Lisone of Leeds Rhinos celebrates scoring their teams third try of the game with their team-mates Leeds Rhinos v Salford Red Devils, Betfred Super League, Rugby League, AMT Headingley Stadium, Leeds, UK – 16 Feb 2024 PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxGRExMLTxCYPxROUxBULxUAExKSAxONLY Copyright: xMattxWest/Shutterstockx 14348843ab
In a season where Salford are expected to be well out of playoff contention, they pushed one of those potential contenders to the wire, and Paul Rowley noted just how devoted the performance was.
Speaking to Jenna Brooks on Sky Sports, he explained: “Well it’s difficult, you don’t want to get into a habit of narrowly losing or losing at all obviously but I think there’s belief in the group. You can see that.
“We worked hard throughout and we never give in, we never doubted ourselves and I think that’s the bit of a trait of the club and we’ll continue to do that.”
Asked specifically about his ability to take teams far further than their talent would suggest, Rowley spoke on what was most important for his players.
“I think the sky’s the limit when you’ve got character and belief,” Rowley revealed.
“I think they’re two attributes that are so important to obviously having a winning culture and like I said that group has got it and we work extremely hard and I felt really unfortunate that was probably a good game for the neutral.”
Despite the overall positive nature of the post-match analysis Paul Rowlehy did explain that he felt his side could have got more from the game, even talking about how his centres weren’t rewarded at the play the ball when trying to keep the tempo up.
He said: “We’re really disappointed because I did feel we deserved a little bit more out of the game. I felt we deserved a little bit more out of yardage with Tim Lafai and Nene Macdonald winning some rucks. I don’t think we got rewarded for that on occasions.
“However, like I said, we’re positive in the group and we’ll move forward and continue to work hard.”
