Comment: Salford owners have a lot to answer for after latest Super League humbling at Wigan

Salford’s future still firmly hangs in the balance with plenty of questions to answer for their new ownership group, with the Red Devils forced again to play numerous youngsters not ready for the step up to Super League as they were beaten 54-0 at Wigan Warriors on Sunday afternoon.

After the second consecutive month where wages were paid late, Salford managed to scrape an initial 17-man squad together for their trip to the reigning Super League and world champions.

That squad should have been confirmed by Friday lunchtime, but was instead only made public 24 hours later on Saturday at midday after the loan signing of Jonny Vaughan from St Helens had been completed.

Come 90 minutes before kick-off on Sunday afternoon when the matchday squads were released, the Red Devils’ make-up had changed again.

Of the initial 17, club captain Kallum Watkins and long-serving utility Chris Atkin weren’t included, and are believed to be pursuing moves away from the club.

And let’s be honest, who can blame them?

Comment: Salford owners have a lot to answer for after latest Super League humbling

Marc Sneyd has already gone to Warrington Wolves, Brad Singleton to Castleford Tigers and Tim Lafai back home to his family Down Under.

More stars are almost certain to follow suit having been let down time and time again by those at the top at Salford, a new Swiss consortium meant to be wealthy beyond belief that have failed to pay wages on time on both occasions they were meant to so far.

Something doesn’t add up there, and the end product this weekend once again was a horrifically make-shift squad named by head coach Paul Rowley, whose hands aren’t just tied, they’re under padlock and key.

The key to unlock it seems to be edging further away from his grasp by the week.

Loanees Vaughan and George Hill – drafted in from Castleford Tigers this week – were in the starting 13 while Tiaki Chan, on loan from Wigan themselves, started on the bench.

There were far more senior figures present than in Round 1 at St Helens, and that’s perhaps why the scoreline wasn’t anywhere near as harsh as the 82-0 that night, combined with some lacklustre stuff from Wigan at times.

Jake Wardle, the returning Jai Field and Junior Nsemba were among the Warriors’ try-scorers in a first half which also saw ex-Red Devils forward Tyler Dupree sin-binned for the hosts – ending 22-0.

Liam Marshall, Bevan French and Zach Eckersley were then among those to get their name on the scoresheet for Matt Peet’s men in a second half which felt much more one-sided, with the final result ending at 54-0.

Before we sign off, too, we must praise the Red Devils travelling supporters who ferociously backed their side throughout, unrelenting in their support.

‘The people we as media, and you as rugby league supporters, get to hear from aren’t the ones we need to be hearing from right now’

The stark reality is the result was always going to be in Wigan’s favour on Sunday, the question ahead of kick-off was how many the hosts would win by.

That being the reality is a grim fact.

The people we as media, and you as rugby league supporters, get to hear from aren’t the ones we need to be hearing from right now.

Communication skills are absolutely non-existent from those now in charge of the Red Devils, and the longer this situation goes on, the more fears over the club’s own existence will rage on.

Every Salford player taking to the field at the moment should be hailed, and we include the ones understandably now at the end of their tether in that, with 39 different men used now already this season by Rowley across all competitions.

We use the term ‘men’ lightly there, and on that topic, it’s the young guns that deserve praise in particular.

Nathan Connell, Josh Wagstaffe, Fin Yates, Jimmy Shields and debutant Scott Egan were the ones filling the shirts/squad spots at The Brick Community Stadium alongside young loanees Vaughan and Hill, but there’s been plenty of others so far this season.

Those out there in a Salford shirt on Sunday really couldn’t have done much more.

Veteran prop Chris Hill appeared to have torn his calf, and France international Sangare struggled throughout. Others were limping come the final hooter, but we won’t even get started on the player welfare issues caused by this saga.

There’s only one place any anger should be directed towards, and it’s the consortium.