Paul Rowley’s Salford future queried by departing Red Devils star as pain behind exit revealed
Jack Ormondroyd has signed for Bradford Bulls.
Prop Jack Ormondroyd has lifted the lid on the mass exodus of players from crisis-hit Salford, but believes head coach Paul Rowley will stay on with Super League’s bottom side.
The giant front row joined high-flying Championship side Oldham last week along with Red Devils club captain Ryan Brierley, with both players scoring stunning tries on their Roughyeds debuts.
Salford scrambled together a team again at the weekend but suffered a humiliating 80-6 defeat at Hull FC, just days after a 74-10 home loss to Hull KR.
The Red Devils are again struggling to field a team to play Wakefield at home this weekend, with several short-term loans having ended.
The crisis has led some to question whether head coach Rowley will be the latest man to leave, but Ormondroyd believes he will stay.
“I have no idea if Rowls will ride it out but I suppose if he was going to leave he would have left by now,” said Ormondroyd, who has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Super League-chasing Roughyeds.
His departure last week was one of the most recent, with senior stars such as Marc Sneyd, Sam Stone, Nene Macdonald, and Kallum Watkins all leaving earlier on in the crisis, and more recent departures including Chris Hankinson and Chris Hill.
“I got on really well with Rowls and I didn’t want to let him down,” said Ormondroyd of his decision to try and ride out the storm at Salford.
“I just didn’t want to let people down. I’m there to do a job and that is to play the game. We had a lot of young lads there and I didn’t want to let them down either.
“We had people pulling out sometimes and I thought that was not really me, I can’t do that. I get people’s reasons for it though.
“It did get bad and it has been bad for a few months. I wanted to stick it out and I guess I hoped it would work itself out. Obviously that hasn’t happened but I wanted to give it every chance to do that.
“The uncertainty came from not getting paid on time. That wasn’t great and we are humans and are no different to someone working a normal job. We all have mortgages to pay and bills to pay so I think that was the major worry.
“One of the worst sides of it was going into games knowing you were going to lose. You play rugby to compete, which is why I really enjoyed my Oldham debut at the weekend.”
