Salford Red Devils coach gives harsh assessment of RFL player welfare after Chris Hill’s complaint

Salford Red Devils assistant Krisnan Inu has highlighted the lack of times the RFL have visited the club amid complaints over player welfare.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Red Devils’ game against St Helens on Sunday, the Salford assistant coach claimed that ht could count ‘on one hand’ the number of times the RFL had visited the club throughout their ongoing saga.

The situation at Salford has been a rough one for players and staff with players regularly playing through injury, whilst the anxiety over whether wages will be paid has also been prevalent with numerous paydays missed.

Inu was asked about the RFL and their role in player welfare in light of comments made by Salford Red Devils forward Chris Hill, who told The Sun that player welfare is “atrocious”. Hill would praise the club’s own systems, something Inu also did, but he asked questions of the RFL and even stated he had no clue who to offer feedback to at the governing body.

Salford Red Devils coach hails in-house player welfare amid RFL criticism

Inu’s verdict wasn’t much kinder as he asked questions of whether the handful of times the governing body had visited was enough.

Asked about the RFL’s player welfare, the 38-year-old said: “If I was to tick a box every time they came in I could probably do it in one hand, so you take it from there (and consider) if that’s enough, especially for the boys and the staff in this position we’ve been in.”

One thing that Inu was a lot more positive about was the club’s in-house player welfare with Welfare Manager Chris O’Connor praised by the assistant coach.

Inu explained: “I think our welfare has been awesome in-house. Chris O’Connor has been good for us and he’s made sure he’s done his job and obviously the job of the RFL on top of player welfare. I think he’s been a big plus.”

On what exactly O’Connor has been doing, Inu said: “He does all the professional stuff, what his job requires. He makes the phone calls, he’s always doing regular checks on players whether they’re injured or not, especially the injured players.

“It’s a bit lonely when it comes to rehab and when you’re in that room obviously trying to grind away to get back on the field. It’s a dark place and he’s been awesome with everyone whether they’re playing or not.”