Paul Rowley was forced to make late changes to his Salford Red Devils line-up on Friday night due to a UKAD issue.
Ryan Brierley missed last week’s game with Leigh Leopards as he struggled with an ear infection, but was named in the squad to take on his former club Hull KR at Magic Weekend. However, due to the medication he received for the injury last week, Brierley required clearance from the national anti-doping agency before he could play against the Robins.
That clearance isn’t due to arrive until early next week, though, with Rowley having to shuffle his side the night before the clash at St James’ Park, with Jayden Nikorima starting in the number one role.
“He was bleeding from his ears last week so he had to have some medicine and we followed the protocol with UKAD,” Rowley said when clarifying Brierley’s absence.
“It’s one of those they need to give clearance but they’ve not given us clearance. We’ll get it in two days but it’s not very helpful.”
Salford Red Devils boss gives update on Chris Hankinson
Chris Hankinson was also named in the 21-man squad after overcoming a shoulder injury, but with the Red Devils having next week off, the decision was made to hold off bringing him back into the side this week.
“He’s had a shoulder injury for some while now and it was a little bit touch and go,” Rowley added. “I’ll be honest, it was probably a precautionary route after we’ve seen the specialist, it would be better not to take the risk.
“If he got a couple more weeks into it that would be good for the rest of the year as opposed to taking any sort of gamble. As tempting as it is to get your best players on the field, we have to make them brave decisions as well, not to risk the long term health of the players.”
