Salford Red Devils salary cap update as Paul Rowley makes open admission

Salford Red Devils coach Paul Rowley admits he is still waiting on confirmation as to whether or not he will be able to select his full-strength squad this weekend against St Helens.

The Red Devils progressed in last weekend’s Challenge Cup with victory against Midlands Hurricanes – but Rowley was only able to select £1.2million worth of talent due to salary cap restrictions imposed upon them by the Rugby Football League following their high-profile financial issues.

The club’s new owners revealed in a statement that they were hopeful of those restrictions being lifted this weekend for the start of the new Super League season.

However, Love Rugby League has had confirmation from the RFL on Wednesday afternoon that at the time of writing, there has been no change to the situation, and the restrictions remain in place.

The new owners need to prove long-term, detailed proof of funding to convince the governing body to relax restrictions, following a winter in which Salford took an advance of around £500,000 on their central distribution to make ends meet.

Salford have to name their squad for the game at 12pm on Thursday, meaning there is still time for a deal to be struck. But time is now running out and there remains the possibility of the Red Devils using the same squad that played against Midlands.

That would mean the likes of captain Kallum Watkins and star half-back Marc Sneyd being unavailable for the trip to St Helens.

Rowley offered an upbeat update, saying: “I’m still waiting for confirmation from the RFL on that one. But we’ll prepare for a positive outcome and our strongest team is getting ready to play at St Helens.”

And he insisted everyone at Salford is simply relieved to have got through the worst of the club’s problems.

He added: “There’s no pressing issue there for anyone taking over this business. There’s bigger fish to fry in that respect. My conversations with the ownership group have just been low-key and healthy but we’ll get into the nitty gritty when the time is right.

“The only reassurances that I needed was that the team would continue to get paid. We have investment and I would encourage the club to have investment more off the field than on it. We’re all right: I keep trying to say, the football department is OK.”

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