Everything Paul Rowley said after Salford Red Devils suffer late collapse against Huddersfield Giants

Salford Red Devils let a win slip through their hands against Huddersfield Giants and Paul Rowley has now had his say on the loss.

Having taken an early lead through Justin Sangare before then adding a penalty to make it 8-0 within the opening 30 minutes, Salford were pegged back before half time and then conceded three tries in the final ten minutes to end up losing 22-8.

The score didn’t reflect the performance and although it was a very scrappy performance, it was gritty and certainly not deserving of a 14-point defeat.

Salford welcomed back Nene Macdonald but the fact they haven’t been changing huge numbers from game to game in recent weeks has certainly seen performances improve, however, today’s was mired with errors as the weather took its effect.

Head coach Paul Rowley spoke post-match on Sky Sports to offer his thoughts and below is everything that he said after Salford Red Devils’ 22-8 loss to Huddersfield Giants.

Paul Rowley ‘looking forward to a good holiday’ after Salford Red Devils’ season

Asked for his initial thoughts, the Red Devils boss said: “As usual for Salford, it was full of effort and unity and desire, and all the character traits that you’d want to see in a rugby team.

“We struggled with our bench, and we have done that the last couple of weeks, it’s just probably not the bench that we’ve been able to pick the right players for the right occasion. They (Huddersfield) went big, they recognised that, and our second half, obviously, too many errors, got camped here, and territory and possession just killed us in the end.

“Yeah, it was a 10 out of 10 for effort, but we just didn’t come out with enough.”

When put to him that things have improved in recent weeks, Rowley responded: “Oh, definitely, you’re quite right, the consistency within the team enables us to practise better, although we only got some for team run.

“The consistency has enabled us to build some relationships, and you can see out there that it’s quite remarkable that, like I’ve said many times, a group of lads have come together and created a team, and we really care about each other and work hard for each other.

“The team ethics and all that, they’re in abundance, and every week we come, we’re very proud of them, and very proud of the supporters that continue to follow us and cheer us on right to the death.”

Nene Macdonald returned from his unpaid leave in Australia and when asked if that was a surprise, Rowley explained that he can’t be surprised by the Papua New Guinean international.

He explained: “Nothing surprises me with Nene, so, yeah, he’s one of those characters that put a smile on your face, he can play rugby clearly to a very high level, and even fresh off an aeroplane, he’s a difficult man to handle.

“It’s nice to have Nene back and provide us with some more options, whether that’s for one game or two games or whatever, he’s a character and it’s good to see him back.”

With one more game of Super League to play for Salford, Rowley was asked about that but also his plans to recuperate following a difficult season for all involved with the Red Devils.

“We’ll get through next week, it’s a short turnaround, which is good as well,” Rowley responded.

“Wakefield are fantastic, they’ve had a great year, so it’s a real tough challenge, and we’ve got to make sure we do that game justice, do justice to our supporters and ourselves, and like you said, look forward then to a good holiday.”

A home win for @Giantsrl in Round 26 🙌#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/yCQhZVteR1

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) September 14, 2025