Salford Red Devils have submitted an 18-man squad ahead of Friday’s clash with Leigh Leopards at Leigh Sports Village.
After pulling out of last week’s fixture with Wakefield Trinity 48 hours before kick-off, Salford have given assurances that this week’s game with Leigh will go ahead and an 18-man squad has appeared on the RFL’s website. The squad is three-men short of being complete, but there could well be more loanees added to that group in the next day or so.
Salford already have seven loanees and that includes the four that joined Salford temporarily earlier this week. Hull KR sent two players to the Red Devils with Leon Ruan and Louix Gorman making the switch, while Neil Tchamambe has joined from Wakefield Trinity and Jack Darbyshire from Leigh.
They join Tiaki Chan, Dan Russell and Toby Warren as loanees in the Salford group and without those players, it seems Salford might not have been able to green light Friday’s game.
As Paul Rowley confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Russell is back fit, while Joe Mellor has been included, too. Ethan Ryan is named in the 18-man squad and he could be set to make his first appearance since July 18, when Salford were beaten by Leeds Rhinos.
With Joe Shorrocks moving on to join Leeds Rhinos, Mellor and Ryan are two of the last remaining senior faces still at Salford, with Loghan Lewis and Justin Sangare also included on that list. Rowley will be hoping they can pull his side together ahead of the trip to Leigh, where Rowley was once head coach.
Leigh have seen two key players drop out of the fold this week with Joe Ofahengaue and Frankie Halton missing the game, but Aaron Pene is included in the 21-man squad alongside Brad Dwyer, who represented Salford just two weeks ago at Hull FC.
Leigh Leopards v Salford Red Devils squads
Salford Red Devils squad: Tiaki Chan, Nathan Connell, Jack Darbyshire, Charlie Glover, Louix Gorman, Sam Hill, Loghan Lewis, Joe Mellor, Declan Murphy, James Pye, Leon Ruan, Dan Russell, Ethan Ryan, Justin Sangare, Neil Tchamambe, Toby Warren, Harvey Wilson, Finley Yates.
Leigh Leopards squad: Darnell McIntosh, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley, Gaz O’Brien, Lachlan Lam, Owen Trout, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Jack Hughes, Isaac Liu, Aaron Pene, Alec Tuitavake, Matt Davis, Brad Dwyer, Keanan Brand, Ethan O’Neill, Andrew Badrock, Ben McNamara, Bailey Hodgson, AJ Towse
