Mike Grady has been appointed head coach of Salford RLFC as they prepare for the start of the new Championship season.
The phoenix club will kick off the new season on Friday, January 16 against Oldham and they are now in the process of recruiting the personnel needed to fulfil that fixture. A head coach is the first piece of the jigsaw then and Grady will take on that mantle.
He’ll be assisted by Dave Hewitt and together the pair will lead the club into a new era under CEO Ryan Brierley and the ownership consortium led by Mason Caton-Brown.
Here’s all you need to know about Grady and Hewitt.
Salford RLFC boss Mike Grady profiled
Well, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Grady was a part of Salford Red Devils prior to the liquidation. As such, following the appointment of Marcelle Lock as general manager, this can be seen as another example of the new club looking after those were impacted by the former club’s collapse.
Grady was head coach of the Red Devils’ women’s team and he had held that role since November 2023. Consequently, he knows all about Salford as a club and a community, while importantly, he understands the important role the club plays within the local area.
It is understood that Grady has played a role in helping the phoenix club get off the ground and he’ll be keen to get to work with the first-team playing group that will be announced over the coming days.
Grady, who represented York Wasps briefly as a player, has heaps of coaching experience with his first notable role coming with Wales Rugby League. In January 2013, he took on the role of being head coach for a Wales Select Side made up of players from the professional and amateur ranks. He also took charge of the Wales Dragonhearts and the Wales U18s.
During that time, he took on the head coach role at South Wales Scorpions. In November 2015, he returned to England for a short spell as an assistant at Newcastle Thunder.
However, he returned to Wales in October 2016 to take on the North Wales Crusaders head coach job. He was appointed as an assistant coach at Rochdale Hornets in August 2022 and the following January he made the switch to Widnes Vikings in a similar position.
During his time with Widnes, Grady was appointed head coach by Spain. And, while he has held a job as a technician, installing electric meters since January 2016, he took up the role with Salford Red Devils in November 2023.
Hewitt worked under Grady with the women’s team, joining the club in March 2025 as he worked towards completing his coaching qualifications. He joined the club after retiring from playing at the end of the 2024 season, ensuring his route to Salford was a lot more straightforward.
The 30-year-old started his career at St Helens but left Merseyside before he got the chance to represent their first-team. He went on to have spells with Sheffield Eagles, Oldham, Rochdale Hornets and Midlands Hurricanes as a player. He made 161 appearances in total, but 115 of them came in the colours of Oldham, where he spent the majority of his career.
As such it’s fair to say he knows the lower leagues well having carved out a career in the Championship and League 1.
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