Hull FC’s Cade Cust lifts lid on former Salford Red Devils’ teammates struggles and why he understands exits

Former Salford Red Devils man Cade Cust admits he can’t blame his former teammates for leaving the club amid the ongoing financial uncertainty. Sam Stone became the latest player to exit the Salford Community Stadium this week, with the back-rower joining Warrington Wolves on loan for the remainder of the season.

He becomes the seventh high profile player to leave the club, following the likes of Marc Sneyd, Kallum Watkins, Tim Lafai and Deon Cross out of the door, while Nene Macdonald has taken unpaid leave for an undefined period of time.

The departures come with players regularly being paid late and with talk of a bridging loan being taken out this week, it seems the club have taken on yet more debt.

Cust only left the Red Devils to join Hull FC in the off-season, but the Australian knows he will be facing off against a very different side to the one he left as he prepares to return to Salford this weekend. However, he still has friends within Paul Rowley’s squad and he has lifted the lid on what they’ve been going through.

“They’ve had a lot of struggles,” Cust said. “I’ve still got a few mates there so hopefully they can sort it all out because it affects the families and it’s never good to see your mates under a lot of stress like that. Hopefully we can have a good game and I can have a chat with them after.

“I think it’s just tough not knowing from the finance side of things, people with mortgages and young families. You don’t want any of your mates to be in that position so hopefully they can sort it out as soon as possible.”

He added: “You don’t want to see people struggling financially and not being paid of the job they’re doing.

“I think it does put a lot of stress on and a lot of the guys I’ve spoken to that have left already have just said it was really stressful on the family, they’re just happy that they can sorted financially and a bit of support, which it doesn’t look like Salford is getting at the moment.

“That’s probably the bad thing with your mates being there, you want them to be looked after. They have to look after themselves.”

Taking on the ⚫️&⚪️’s this Sunday! 🏡

🎟️ 𝙉𝙀𝙓𝙏 𝙐𝙋, Hull FC (H) – https://t.co/N5ClI05Fw1 pic.twitter.com/zCdI55keur

— Salford Red Devils 👹 (@SalfordDevils) June 16, 2025

Cade Cust has nothing to prove on his return to Salford Red Devils

Cust spent a year with the Red Devils before moving on and it’s fair to say he blew hot and cold during his time there. He doesn’t feel as though he has a point to prove upon his return in black and white, though.

“I just see it as another game,” he said. “I don’t think I have anything to prove. I want to go there, get the job done, get two points and get out of there to be honest. That’s what we’ll be going to do.

“I like playing against old mates, it brings the best out in me so it’s go hard for 80 minutes and then have a good chat after.”

After slipping up last week against strugglers Castleford Tigers, Hull dropped out of the top six on Friday night following Wakefield Trinity’s win over Wigan Warriors.

Asked about the season so far, he said: “I think we started well. In the last few weeks one got away at home and we weren’t very happy with that performance. I think looking forward this next five or six weeks is a massive point of the season and if we can four or five wins then we can cement a good spot.

“We’ll get a few more players back towards the end of the season, I think we’ve started well and I want to keep building on it.

“I’m quite regularly looking at the table, making sure we’re still in that six. Every game is important when it’s that close. The top two teams are probably pulling away but that three to six is very open and any team could finish anywhere there.

“We have a job to do against Salford and hopefully we can get some more wins on the board.”