BEN HELLEWELL says Salford Red Devils’ players will continue to support each other and “make good of a bad situation”.
Uncertainty surrounds the present and future of the crisis club, whose longstanding financial concerns haven’t been abated by a takeover in February.
Indeed, staff have been paid late and players have departed at a regular rate this year to reduce spending.
Salford are bottom of the Super League table with nine losses from ten, having scored only 59 points and conceded 390.
Hellewell, a back-rower in his third season at the club, is one of the most experienced figures left in the playing squad.
“It’s been tough, but you’ve got your family around you who keep you going through tough parts, and you’ve got the lads when you go in training,” he said.
“They keep a smile on your face and make you want to come into training. We’re a tight-knit group, the staff and the players. Going into training and playing each week gets us away from reality.
“And when I’m at home, my family have been a rock to me. It has been tough, but we’ll get through it.”
Salford’s team selection changes greatly on a weekly basis as the club manage their reduced salary cap, particularly by replacing senior stars with young loanees, while reserves players have also been called upon.
“We don’t know what team we’re going to picking each week because we don’t know who will be there, who else we’ll get on loan or who else will leave,” added Hellwell.
“It’s hard but the players coming in know how to play rugby. We get players from different teams but everyone in Super League knows the fundaments of playing rugby.
“I think they fit in well. They don’t need much training with us, we just take them through the plays that we’ve got.
“It’s for older heads and the spine to do that, players like Joe Mellor, Jack Ormondroyd, myself, and Chris Hill who is more experienced than anybody in Super League.”
While the team are expected to be beaten each week, professional pride continues to drive those on the coalface.
Hellewell said: “We’ll always have confidence in ourselves to play our best, and if we play our best that’s all we can do.
“Some people will write us off, but we are good with the underdog mentality. At the minute we’re the underdog in most games we play.
“But we’re going to play 100 percent, for ourselves and for the fans as well.
“They have been unbelievable, We haven’t got the biggest fanbase in Super League but we have got the loudest.
“We can hear them in the stand wherever they go. They help get us through this tough period.”
