Marc Sneyd lifts lid on the keys to his spectacular form and Paul Rowley’s Salford Red Devils success

Marc Sneyd has hailed the methods of Paul Rowley at Salford Red Devils as the head coach continues to get the best out of players.

Having hovered around the play-off spots for much of the season, Rowley’s Red Devils eventually finished fourth in the Super League table. It means that they have the luxury of being able to host an eliminator clash with Leigh Leopards and with a record crowd expected at the Salford Community Stadium on Friday night, they might just fancy their chances of reaching a semi-final.

While reaching the play-offs wasn’t seen as beyond Salford at the start of the season, few would have expected the club to claim a top four finish, with Warrington Wolves, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors the only sides who have been stronger in 2024, and much of that can be put down to the work of Rowley.

“I think he just allows players to be who they want to be mainly,” Sneyd told Serious About RL. “We’ve got players in the team like Nene (Macdonald) and Tim (Lafai), there’s not much you need to do for them except let them play with a smile on their face.

“You have a lot of players coming to Salford who have been out of favour who somehow seem to re-find themselves and play with a smile on their face. That’s one of the things that Rowls seems to do really well, it’s very rare that you come to a training session or even on game day and not see the players smiling. It goes a long way having a happy team.”

Of course, Sneyd is one of those who has been at the top of his game this season, with the half-back racking up 22 assists, four drop goals and producing more kicks in general play than any other player in the competition. Such has been the 33-year-old’s form, he’s currently considered a favourite for the Man of Steel award and  has been named in the Super League Dream Team.

“For the main part it helps that the team have been playing well, we made the play-offs and we’ve got a lot of players in our team that are playing arguably the best they’ve been playing,” the Salford Red Devils man said on his Dream Team inclusion. “As a half-back there’s not much I can do if they’re not performing. So me being in the Dream Team is a testament to how well the team as a whole has played. I massively appreciate them lads.”

On the reasons behind his form, he added: “There’s a fair amount of trust there with Rowls and the coaching staff but also with the conditioners and the medical staff they understand that you know your body better than they do.

“There’s a big element of trust in there and I appreciate that and I feel good. My body’s probably not felt this good for a long time so hopefully I can continue that.

“This season I missed the Wigan game last week but it’s the first game I’ve missed all year. I think Kal (Watkins) was in the same situation, he’s the same age as me, so we’re doing something right at Salford and we have a smile on our faces while we’re doing it.”

Salford Red Devils might be flying high in confidence and belief, but so are Leigh Leopards having won 10 of their last 12 Super League games to claim a play-off spot on the final day of the regular campaign.

“Over the last 10 or 11 weeks I think they’ve been incredible,” he added. “Last week’s win against St Helens has probably given them a good idea of what the play-offs are all about.

“They’ll probably look back on that game going into this one in terms of what’s expected. We’re expecting nothing less than their best, they do all the little things really well so we can’t afford to turn up and expect anything to be given to us. We’re going to have to work as hard as we can and give it our all.”