Paul Rowley has revealed the three players who will form his leadership group at Salford Red Devils next season.
The new head coach says that new halfback signings Marc Sneyd and Brodie Croft, along with loose-forward Elijah Taylor, will have leadership responsibilities.
Rowley did not confirm the structure of the group and who would replace the retired Lee Mossop as the official club captain, but said he had been inspired by what he had seen in pre-season from that trio.
At his unveiling as Salford boss last month, Rowley had called for “leaders to emerge” from within the squad, and it appears those three have done the most in that regard.
“It was interesting finding out who the leaders were,” said Rowley. “They come in different forms; some lead with actions, some with words.
“We’ve got a trio of people who really inspire me: ET, Sneydy and Brodie Croft.
“There’s a mixture of action and words (with that trio), and between those three I think we’ve got a really healthy leadership.”
Rowley also gave an honest view of the size of the task at hand for himself in taking over a Salford side which struggled last season under Richard Marshall and finished eleventh in Super League.
“I think the big difference first and foremost is the environment,” he said of the impact he has managed to have so far. “I feel like a bit of trouble-shooter coming in and starting from scratch.
“The environment was a little dishonest because sometimes in rugby you’ve got to give hard truths. As long as there’s truth you can fix things. I think there were a lot of grey areas in the group.”
More Salford Red Devils season preview content will be available in the regular weekly edition of League Express on Monday. Click here for more details.