With victory over Castleford Tigers at the weekend, Salford Red Devils kept themselves firmly in the play-offs but they’re set for a real four-pointer against Leeds Rhinos on Saturday with Brad Arthur’s side the biggest threat to their top-six spot.
Salford sit four points clear of Leeds and a win would give them a six-point buffer with just seven games to go in the season, whilst a loss cuts that gap to two making this one of the round’s most pivotal Super League games.
Another narrative surrounding the game is the constant links of Paul Rowley to Leeds Rhinos with the Salford boss still tipped to make the switch to Headingley, despite his repeated insistence that he will remain with the Red Devils until at least the end of his contract in 2025.
Nevertheless, it was something that Rowley was asked about after his side’s win over Castleford Tigers, in particular, how much he’d see of the media coverage pre-game referencing his Leeds Rhinos links.
To that, Rowley simply responded: “Not really, because I’ll be at Worsley Golf Club with a cup of tea and a biscuit, so I’ll not see anything. So, nothing will touch me at all.”
Paul Rowley focusing on Salford and not Leeds Rhinos
Credit: Imago Images
Rowley had made those comments to the press in the aftermath of his side’s 30-22 victory over Castleford Tigers but asked to look forward to the clash against Leeds Rhinos, he was quick to bat them away and ensure the focus remained on his side.
He explained: “We prefer to look up, not down. Our job is to focus on week to week. We’ve seen this year that the results are crazy, aren’t they?
“We understand that we’ll have to work harder again to beat some of the teams in particular what was on show over the last two nights. The results and performances that we’ve seen already in Super League this week have been fantastic.
“A little bit of lady luck with injuries and we came through today well, so that’s good and we’ll kick on to the next one.”
Pushed further on Leeds Rhinos and the speculation surrounding a potential move to Headingley for him in 2025, Rowley stated again: “My focus is on, as always, this group of players.
“We’re a good group, we’re a close group, and we wouldn’t do ourselves a disservice by focusing and concentrating on anything else.
“That being said, we’re coming against a fantastic club, a big club, and a club that’s really bang in form as well. A couple of our (former) players are playing extremely well for them too.
“We’ve got to be better next week than we were this week against a team that’s confident and hungry. They are getting to that point where they need to win almost every game.”
