Salford Red Devils fail to name full 17 for St Helens clash as controversy hits new heights

Salford Red Devils have named just 16 players to take on St Helens in their opening Super League clash of 2025 – with Paul Rowley selecting just three interchanges for his bench.

The Red Devils begin their campaign at the Totally Wicked Stadium live on the BBC under a cloud. They remain under salary cap restrictions imposed upon them by the RFL after failing to convince the governing body they can be brought out of special measures following a takeover.

That led to Salford selecting what is effectively their reserves side for the game at St Helens, despite having the option to pick from the players who featured at Midlands Hurricanes including the likes of Nene Macdonald and Ryan Brierley.

Instead, Rowley named a 17-man squad – a decision which has attracted plenty of ire from the game. Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin said the club were ‘throwing their teddies out’ while Warrington CEO Karl Fitzpatrick told Love Rugby League on Friday their decision represented ‘tinpot behaviour’.

But all 17 players have failed to make the starting line for Saturday, with Rowley not even filling his interchange bench for the game against the Saints.

Charlie McCurrie is the one player from that 17 who doesn’t feature. Furthermore, the three most senior members of that group – Joe Bullock, Tiaki Chan and Ben Hellwell – are all on the bench.

That means the starting 13 is comprised entirely of youngsters from the reserves and academy system at Salford – many of whom will make their Super League debuts on Saturday evening.

Fitzpatrick told Love Rugby League on Friday: “There’s been such a great buzz around the start of Super League, and last night’s game and show at Wigan were outstanding. As I say, I don’t know why they’ve done it but if reports are true that it’s in protest against the RFL, it needs to be called out as tinpot behaviour.”