Salford Red Devils travel to face Wigan Warriors with eight debutants and Paul Rowley has explained his team selection.
Eyebrows were raised when the Salford Red Devils squad was announced on Tuesday with the club making a total of 17 changes from the 21-man squad that they named to face Hull FC.
It was a squad featuring eight possible debutants, all of whom have been selected by Paul Rowley for tonight’s game against Wigan Warriors.
Wigan know that a win will hand them the League Leaders Shield and they’re priced as short as 1/500 to win the game due to Salford’s squad selection.
It was something that the RFL looked into and Paul Rowley has explained exactly what that entailed when speaking on Sky Sports ahead of his side’s clash with Wigan.
Asked about the ‘inquisition’ into his Salford Red Devils’ squad, Rowley clarified: “The word inquisition is a little bit strong. I think when you put a squad in, you’ve got to get it cleared by the RFL. It took two hours. So inquisition is way too far off the mark.
“They just clear it, they have a look at your injury list and the contributing factors like games played and accumulated. I think we’ve got four who can’t start next season already with the games played so I felt I had no option really.”
When it was put to him that he was fully focused on the play-off game next week, Rowley confirmed simply: “100%.”
Why Salford Red Devils named eight debutants?
Credit: Imago Images
With so many unknowns in his side, Rowley was asked what can be expected from his team that he openly admitted were underdogs.
He explained: “What we’ll want from this side is effort, and commitment, and there’s a weight in the badge of Salford, and we’ve had a team that’s represented this club extremely well, not just this year, but previous years as well. So they carry that weight, and like I said before, we want to compete for everything.
“If it was Top Trump cards then we’re not winning the battle, are we? But it’s exciting for all the players to get an opportunity and like I said before, it’s an opportunity for us to rest our first team.”
Some were surprised that Salford Red Devils hadn’t named a squad with the intent to win the game given that a win would secure a home play-off game, particularly given that Salford have lost just once at home all season.
On that point, Rowley argued: “I think we’ll be slight underdogs whether we’re home or away, whoever we play in the next round, so our biggest chance of progressing is to have our fully fit side out and function to its best in its ability, regardless of who we play or where it’s at.
“That is what is best for Salford Red Devils. I hate coming here and not competing with my best team. I’ve got to do what’s right for my team and the right thing to do for my team is have a fully functioning, fit team when it gets to knock out stage.”
