Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has taken aim at Salford Red Devils after they named a very young squad to face St Helens.
Salford face Saints on Saturday in a game that will be broadcast live on BBC Two, as well as Sky Sports, however, those watching will not see the likes of Marc Sneyd, Nene Macdonald or Jayden Nikorima play for the Red Devils.
Instead, the most senior player they will see is Joe Bullock and Wigan loanee Tiaki Chan with Salford opting to name a squad filled primarily with reserve players in what is being viewed a protest by Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin.
The Red Devils had an off-season of financial woe and consequently saw the RFL place them under a £1.2 million cap, meaning they were without several stars including Marc Sneyd, Tim Lafai and Kallum Watkins for their Challenge Cup game against Midlands Hurricanes.
However, they were able to play the likes of Nene Macdonald and Jayden Nikorima as well as several other first-team players but none have them have been named to face St Helens this weekend.
Despite being taken over, Salford confirmed that they must still operate at that restricted cap before naming their squad which has been seen as an act of “throwing the teddies out” by Jon Wilkin.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “I’d imagine Salford are trying to strong-arm the game into making a call. That’s exactly what it looks like.
“The optics of it are so poor, they’re really poor.”
Continuing, he argued: “Salford have been in special measures and they’re a fantastic club and we all value their participation in our competition but the financial situation they’ve got in is self-inflicted.
“They’ve spent more than they have had, they then needed a bailout from the game and now they’ve thrown the teddies out and picked a weak team for Round One.”
St Helens are now widely expected to cruise to a victory and Wilkin thinks the Red Devils’ act of what he believes to be petulance could cost them in the long run.
He said: “Your points difference matters. Round One could be the difference between a team making the play-offs and not.
“I think it’s criminal.”
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
derrick roberts
February 13, 2025 at 10:36 pm
why risk injury to players rfl draging there feet as usual.left them in imposible position.level playing field please.con grats to leigh,
Cally
February 14, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Who is this Wilkins fella, I’ve heard some poor sports pundits in my time but has this guy no common sense at all. Why would SRLFC risk injury to 3 or 4 first team players in an obvious pasting against a full strength Saints team.
Somebody please take that stirring stick off him and give his head a wobble.