‘It was strange’ – Major Paul Rowley decision questioned after Salford Red Devils defeat

Sky Sports pundits Jon Wilkin and Sam Tomkins have questioned Paul Rowley’s use of Ryan Brierley in Salford Red Devils’ loss to Leigh Leopards on Friday night.

Salford lost 14-6 on home soil as they saw their season come to an end at the eliminator stage of the Super League play-offs. The Red Devils went in at the interval with a 2-0 lead, but they failed to create what was needed to see off Adrian Lam’s side, who scored three second half tries to seal their spot in the semi-finals.

Rowley raised eyebrows with his selection in the build up to the contest with Chris Hankinson preferred to Brierley at full-back and despite his side being desperately short of an attacking spark, the head coach waited until the 61st minute to bring the playmaker off the bench.

The Red Devils were already eight points behind by that point and Brierley couldn’t do enough to turn the game on its head as Leigh saw out the result.

“It was an interesting call,” Jon Wilkin said while analysing the contest on Sky Sports. “I would have thought Chris Hankinson was there to absorb some of the heat and then get Ryan into the game. It didn’t happen, it happened quite late.

“That surprised me and there may be something more to that than we know. It certainly feels like a strange decision from the outside not to use him earlier especially when their attack wasn’t flowing so well.

“He said in the pre-match piece that Ryan is the biggest advocate of how he wants to play, so you’d expect him to be in.

“Leigh affected their attack. The way Leigh defended affected their attack. It was brilliant last week and in the second half it was brilliant again. They scrambled exceptionally well. They worked so hard for each other and it makes it difficult to attack against but tactically it was a strange call.”

Sam Tomkins added on the Salford Red Devils call: “It was strange. At Magic Weekend we saw the opposite switch, Hankinson came off the bench and Rowley said it felt it was going to be the tough stuff that would get us the win.

“He obviously thinks Hankinson is the one that can do the tough stuff and Brierley can score the points. I don’t think it was a coincidence that he came straight on after Leigh had just scored a try, he must have been desperate for points at that stage but it was too late.”