Salford Red Devils head coach Paul Rowley has described as “utter bull” suggestions senior players told him they wouldn’t take to the field against Leeds Rhinos on Friday.
Reports this week claimed the RFL were set for crisis talks at Salford today (Wednesday) after players informed club officials, including Rowley, they were considering boycotting the Super League round 19 fixture.
Rowley declined to talk “politics” during his weekly preview press conference this afternoon, but denied being approached by players and insisted the meeting with the governing body was less dramatic than suggested in the media.
He said: “I read an article saying I had been made aware of certain players not playing etc.
“That’s not true. Nobody has approached me, I have not had any dialogue regarding that, that’s utter bull.
“Second, the RFL are coming in. That was at the request of the players. They’ve not come in on a white horse or anything, it has been at the request of the players just for some clarity and some good chat and they are kindly doing that. That’s all good, it’s not the gravitas it was made out to be.”
Salford Red Devils injury news
Rowley has made three changes to the squad named ahead of last week’s win against Castleford Tigers, all because of injury.
Centre Esan Marsters, stand-off Jayden Nikorima (arm) and substitute Loghan Lewis miss out and Rowley said: “Loghan is HIA [head injury assessment] so he can’t play on Friday and the other two boys will definitely be long-term.
“Jayden has got a fractured arm and Esan has damage to his shoulder. We are just awaiting an appointment with the specialist to talk through the results of the scan. That’s long-term, we are not going to see Esan for a while.”
Anonymous
July 16, 2025 at 2:27 pm
This is not the first time “strike action” rears its head in the news just before Salford play against Leeds and/or other Yorkshire teams.
So much for unity between RL clubs; however many times it is mooted, our Yorkshire neighbours just don’t seem to understand the concept. Back to the dark ages, again.
Anonymous
July 16, 2025 at 2:37 pm
Although inviting someone like Sutton to the meeting ensures that no decisions will be made and the overall situation will not go forward at all, total waste of time.
In fact inviting him to the meeting is like inviting an arsonist to a house fire.