Salford Red Devils have had a tumultuous off-season, something that is very familiar according to star player Ryan Brierley who has brushed it off and instead insisted that the focus of all at the club is on the 2025 Super League season.
Financial difficulties have plagued the Red Devils throughout the off-season with the club requesting an advance on their central funding before more recently being told to cut spending by £800,000.
Thus far, it’s unclear what steps have been taken to do that with Salford still seeking last-minute investment to ward off the likely player sales that would be needed to make up such a huge amount, however, the Red Devils players seem unaffected.
Jayden Nikorima, Kallum Watkins and Ryan Brierley have all spoken on The Sportsman Rugby League YouTube channel to speak on the upcoming campaign, with both Watkins and Brierley addressing the past few months.
Salford Red Devils leaders ignoring the off-season talk
Credit: John Clifton/SWpix.com
Club captain Watkins, who has been linked to several Super League clubs including Serious About Rugby League’s report of Wakefield’s interest, argued that the off-season talk is something players have come to expect.
The ex-Leeds Rhinos man said: “There’s been a lot of talk obviously over the last few months but it’s the kind of thing that we (have come to) expect over the last few years whilst I’ve been at Salford.
“For us, it’s just about cracking on with pre-season, making sure that we’re training hard and preparing for a big season so it’s about keeping away from the noise.”
Salford seemed to show just how unaffected they have been by that noise when they went about their business and beat St Helens 40-12 this past weekend, a game that Watkins was involved in.
Another player who featured was full-back Ryan Brierley and the Scotland international also dismissed the notion of off-season occurrences disrupting the players – something he applauded both the players and staff for.
“I think the belief has always been there since when I joined on day one three of four years ago,” he explained.
“There’s a lot of turmoil and bumps in the road when you play at Salford but the credit goes to the playing group and the coaching staff who managed to keep us competitive each year.”
Salford star dismisses ‘experts’ as he outlines 2025 goals
Credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Brierley also explained that the perception of the Red Devils overachieving is not something that those inside the club think with all at Salford backing their ability, with the full-back again tipping Paul Rowley’s side for success in 2025.
He said: “I suppose when we do as well as we do, it’s never really a surprise to us. It’s always a surprise to everyone else but I think we’ll always back our ability.
“Hopefully with this pre-season with Jayden there and myself and Sneydy in the spine, alongside Joe Mellor who has been a makeshift hooker, I think our systems and structures and fluency will be a lot better coming into the season.”
As for Nikorima, who joined midway through last season, he’s expecting Salford to outperform their impressive 2024 campaign that saw them place fourth, whilst also taking a swipe at the ‘experts’.
He stated: “We’ve definitely got our goals set for what we want to do in this ’25 season and it’s more than what we achieved last year.
“We always claim that underdog tag or get put in the bottom four or at the bottom half of the ladder, usually by the ‘experts’ but we see ourselves better than that.”
Salford kick off their season with a visit to face St Helens before hosting Leeds Rhinos in Round Two, both games that will be a strong indicator of where the Red Devils are really at.
