SALFORD RED DEVILS have shaped up to be one of the most remarkable Super League clubs to have risen to the fore in recent years.
After being faced with the drop back in 2016 – and only a Gareth O’Brien drop goal saving them from relegation – Salford have been quietly building ever since.
Ian Watson managed to steer the Red Devils to the Super League Grand Final in 2019 with Australian misfit Jackson Hastings in the halves.
Hastings had left the Manly Sea Eagles the previous year after being forced onto the periphery only to join Salford where his impact was felt instantly.
A tremendous talent, Hastings enamoured himself to Salford fans on and off the field, becoming a hero whom people could look up to.
Since then, the halfback has carved out another NRL career after it previously looked over.
Now, the Red Devils have another gem in their locker with Brodie Croft. A former Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm star, the halfback faced undeniable pressure at Red Hill to perform, something which dragged the 25-year-old down.
That was until a move to the AJ Bell Stadium came about ahead of 2022 – and it’s fair to say the parallels between Croft and Hastings were made.
That is down to the recruitment angle taken by director of rugby Ian Blease and the rest of his staff at analysing potential signings in thorough examinations.
“What we do is nothing fancy: it’s thorough due diligence on the player, his background and his stats from all the key platforms that every Super League club uses. We watch hours and hours of video,” Blease told Roar.
“Ours is borne out by good relationships with agents that I’ve built, hoping that if you treat them right, they’ll give you a heads up when the right player becomes available to you.”
From that, Blease revealed that Croft chose to sign for Salford despite there being ‘a couple of clubs in for him.’
“That’s happened with the likes of Jackson, Brodie, Joey Lussick and others. If use Brodie as an example: there was a couple of clubs in for him but at that time, he had a huge question mark. Nobody even knew what his best position would be.
“But he was quick, he had good skill and he’s a rugby nerd, so I knew that if we put the right people around him, he’d fly just like Jackson did.”
And fly Croft did – all the way to the Man of Steel podium at the end-of-season awards with head coach Paul Rowley, Blease and the Salford faithful hopeful of the halfback finding the same form in 2023 as well as his pen to sign an extension at the AJ Bell.