PAUL ROWLEY believes that there was “probably a miscommunication on many fronts” regarding Salford Red Devils’ squad declaration ahead of their clash with St Helens this afternoon.
The Red Devils boss named effectively a reserves squad to travel to the Totally Wicked Stadium after the club, with a 16-man team named this evening.
That was despite a takeover of the club confirmed last week with hope that the £1.2 million sustainability cap would be lifted in time for Super League Round One.
That hasn’t been the case and now Rowley has given his side of the story.
“I found out an hour before we had to put the squad in, I had just come out of an MRI scan on my shoulder. It was a difficult moment to be honest,” Rowley told BBC Sport.
“We had read the narrative, it was probably a miscommunication on many fronts.
“Our club was of the impression that we had a full team to select from and we trained as such.
“We had done our main session and squad declaration was on a day off so it became a very difficult process.”
Rowley also explained why he couldn’t field the same team that beat Midlands Hurricanes in the Challenge Cup last weekend.
“I couldn’t play the Midlands Hurricanes squad because of injuries. We have got 17 players that featured in that game valued at £1.2 million on the salary cap.
“We weren’t under the impression that the £1.2 million-worth of players had to remain the same £1.2 million so we had picked a squad resting several players such as Kallum Watkins, Marc Sneyd and Tim Lafai.
“We presented two squads to the RFL, one with 15 players that was strong that included Kallum, Tim, Marc etc but we were informed that the governance was rigid regarding we couldn’t play those players because they didn’t play last week.
“It made it physically impossible to turn out a squad. I turned out a 15-man team and presented it to the RFL that we believed would come and win and that was discussed at the RFL. We were informed that it wouldn’t be accepted after team run at 1pm yesterday.
“We were under the impression that we would get a chance to play our main players.
“I can’t exactly say I’m comfortable to field these interviews. I wish we had got this much attention over three-and-a-half months of turbulence and uncertainty.
“It’s bad behaviour from certain quarters towards our players but they have been absolutely fantastic and I thought we had got past the finished the line.”
