Serious questions for Sam Burgess, green cards, incredible Cain Robb and other Salford Red Devils v Warrington Wolves talking points

Salford Red Devils hosted Warrington Wolves as the sides met in Super League for the first time this year and here are the talking points.

Warrington won the match 24-12 but you’d count Salford as incredibly unlucky not to get their second win of the season. Wire turned up like a team who expected an easy win and were shocked to find out that wasn’t to be the case.

Two former Salford players featured for Warrington in the form of Marc Sneyd and Sam Stone, whilst the Red Devils welcomed Joe Shorrocks back after he served a one-match ban.

The result means Warrington Wolves close in on the top six whilst Salford remain rooted at the foot of the table. Here are some of the key talking points from the match.

Salford Red Devils v Warrington Wolves talking points

Serious questions for Sam Burgess

They might have won and closed in on the top six but based on this performance, Warrington Wolves will be nowhere near the play-offs this year. Having not played Salford all year, Wire looked like a side who expected to just turn up, score 40 points and head home.

Salford were incredibly spirited but Warrington were so sloppy and lacked the characteristics of a side who have serious ambitions this year. Their error count at half-time stood at nine with a lowly 58% completion rate. Whilst it improved in the second-half, it didn’t improve much and their tries came as a result of Salford errors and tiredness as opposed to any creativity.

Sam Burgess will have to ask some serious questions of his side on the back of this performance. They clearly turned up expecting Salford to have their belly tickled and when that wasn’t the case, they struggled in the grind of the game.

Salford loanees stand up tall

Every Salford loanee has played with pure heart and dedication in 2025 but you’ll struggle to find two more impressive performances than tonight’s efforts from Cain Robb and Danny Richardson. The pair were absolutely immense and Paul Rowley will be incredibly keen to get their deals renewed.

Richardson serves as a true general who marshalled the team around the field, even nailing a 40/20, whilst Cain Robb also took on some kicking duties. His huge shot on Connor Wrench fired up the Salford home crowd and almost helped buoy the side to a famous win.

Ex-Salford pair in for pelters

As referenced above, Warrington boast former Salford pair Marc Sneyd and Sam Stone in their side and it’s fair to say the pair were handed a frosty reception as they returned to the Salford Community Stadium. The response to Stone especially was brutal with boos and jeers any time he touched the ball, even more so when he committed an error.

Of course his exit came after Paul Rowley suggested the player ‘downed tools’ whilst Sneyd heard ironic cheers of ‘Sneyddddd’ after every kicking error, including his missed conversion.

Green card questions

Salford Red Devils players were shown green cards on two occasions and it raises questions of how often they are shown. Very few games have seen the same side shown them twice and it proved costly for Salford. Green cards are shown to a player when play has had to be stopped because of their injury, effectively brought in to stop time wasting.

Danny Richardson was the first man shown one when he was clearly caught late on the kick. He was also deep in backfield so the decision to stop the game and show him a green card, thus leaving Salford down to twelve for two minutes was an odd one to enforce given how rarely it is enforced. Nathan Connell was the second example with the winger still trying to stand up when he was pinged. Warrington would then score on the resulting tackle albeit not in the position Connell was covering.

FT: Salford Red Devils 12-24 Warrington Wolves

Sum that game up in three words… pic.twitter.com/diX88TPu40

— Serious About Rugby League (@SeriousAboutRL) July 4, 2025