SALFORD RED DEVILS head coach Paul Rowley has pulled no punches in his assessment of where his side lies going into the 2024 Super League season.
Salford’s issues in recent years has been well documented, with financial problems, the loss of key personnel and the inability to invest heavily in their playing squad leaving Rowley with a mightily difficult job on his hands.
However, the Red Devils have often defied expectations, finishing in sixth in 2022 and then seventh in 2023.
For Rowley, however, he has announced the Salford job as “the second toughest” in Super League at present – and he is aiming to pick off those predicted to be around the bottom to climb higher up the table.
“I think in terms of money, resources and disruption, we are probably slightly above London in that respect,” Rowley told League Express.
“I think Mike Eccles (London head coach) and London have built such a belief. I really commend what he has done and it’s almost inspirational.
“I do think and, I’m sitting here and being brutally honest, they’ve got the toughest job but we’ve got the second toughest job.
“We are competitors and I am a competitor so straightaway I’m looking to pick off the next one who seems vulnerable. And, I’m being open about that, there are some teams – that if you look at the bookies – such as Castleford who are being put down there in predictions.
“If we focus on having a crack at them and seeing if we can chip up the table in that way. But everything points to us being in and around 11th but that’s not what I want to do.”
Rowley went further, professing that where the Red Devils currently sit in terms of squad quality and depth is behind where the club was when he first joined back in late 2021.
“I’m not about surviving, I want to flourish. We were building for two years and now we’ve reset and the start point now is probably lower than when I came in two years ago.
“It’s a challenge, but I think you get floored by it or enthused and excited and I’m going to take the latter option.”
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