Ian Watson has expressed his frustration at the club’s ongoing search for new players.
The Salford head coach cut an unhappy figure after the club’s Magic Weekend defeat to Catalans, their fourth straight defeat.
Watson criticised his players after the game and pondered whether a lack of competition for places was playing its part.
When pushed on their attempts to sign new players, Watson said money was proving to be a problem.
“We’re looking and we thought we had one tied up a little bit ago,” he said.
“The club is in a situation where the club doesn’t have a flood of money, it doesn’t have a Marwan to go out and buy it.
“The answer is simple, you can go out and pull a couple of guys from Championship who might have a Super League clause, but are they at Super League level? We need players who can handle playing at an intense level.
“We do need more players to compete in this league. You can’t compete with 21-24 players. If you look at all the other squads, they’re big squads, they can pick and choose and there’s genuine competition for places there. That’s what we need within our boys so they’re not sat there thinking they’re going to play every week.
“Some of the senior boys need to stand up. Some of them are standing up and some of them aren’t standing up.
“You watch us in training and we’re outstanding at some of the stuff we do. When you’re in that battle and fatiguing the shape just stops and it’s falling out.
“Whether that’s a competition for places thing with our limited numbers and people knowing that they are kind of secure a little bit, but we need to rectify and change that because we’re not having people thinking they are comfortable in their place when they’re turning out performances like that in the second-half.”
Salford face Huddersfield on Friday knowing a defeat will see them drop into the bottom four.
