Embattled Salford players out to avoid tag of Super League's worst ever team

The Guardian

6 days ago

For much of last Friday's game at Leeds, no one could possibly think they were watching one of the worst teams in rugby league history. Salford eventually sank to a 40-6 defeat, a harsh scoreline given they were the better side in the first half and conceded 18 points in the 10 minutes they had a man sin-binned. Despite a week of huge upheaval – players threatening a strike, crisis meetings with the Rugby Football League and a squad stripped by injuries of another three senior players – Salford competed heroically.
It was another spirited display after their victory over Castleford – just their second win of the season – but coach Paul Rowley is not expecting things to keep getting better over the remaining eight rounds of the season. Wages are due next week, with some players extremely concerned that, once they play the final game of the campaign at home to Wakefield on 19 September, they may not receive the final two paychecks of their contracts. Threats of a strike were quashed after a meeting with the RFL, but the players know they face an uncertain future.
'Distractions are not good for any team but for this team in particular,' says Rowley. 'We're trying to squeeze every last drop out of them every week. To be at their best and compete, they need to be focused and it's been very hard to have a clear mind and true focus on the job in hand. I was nervous, knowing what Leeds can do, so I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked. I knew they were capable of it but pleased they did themselves justice.'
Things are improving on the pitch but are almost certainly about to get worse off it. Salford have picked up four points from their first 19 games of the season but that will become minus four if, as expected, they are docked eight points for fielding 13 reserves and only three subs at St Helens on the opening weekend. The Red Devils will need to win a few of their eight remaining fixtures to avoid the dreaded nul points.
There are many metrics by which to judge the worst team ever: fewest points, fewest wins, lowest win percentage, greatest points average deficit. In the 57 seasons there has been more than one division in rugby league, only one club has finished a top-flight season with no points: Halifax in 2003. They only won one of their 28 games all season – their first of the campaign – but were docked those two points for breaking the salary cap the previous year.
No top-flight club has gone all season without a win, but four clubs have only won once. Halifax were in financial meltdown before 2003 began; London Broncos only just made it to the start line in 2014 with a team of kids; and both Barrow in 1989-90 and Rochdale the following season were over-promoted, having finished fourth in Division Two. They were never going to cope.
Salford are different. Their disintegration since finishing fourth in Super League last September is both remarkable and dire. Half of the players who helped them beat Huddersfield four months ago have left the club – including Kallum Watkins, who played against them for Leeds on Friday – or are injured. Week after week Rowley has turned to inexperienced youngsters and 14 loanees.
The return from injury of senior players such as Chris Hill and Joe Mellor has added experience, but Rowley acknowledges his resources could be further weakened after the 1 August transfer deadline. 'Everybody's having a look and worrying about what's next,' he says. 'We wouldn't judge anyone if they took decisions on their own futures. I've learned over this period to expect nothing and take every day as it comes.'
After a chaotic six months, Rowley admits his squad has struggled to remain 'obsessed with being a professional rugby player, as you need to be' with too much on their minds. Having just one fixture in the next three weeks – against leaders Hull KR next Thursday – Rowley has sent everyone home to reset.
'If we had a normal squad it would be a chance to work on combinations, but our priority is to get people fit: healthy bodies and healthy minds,' says the former England hooker. 'The best thing for us to do is to have a break and enjoy some time with their families without the stresses they've been under.'
Salford's best chance to pick up their third win of the season will come in September, when they host Castleford and visit Huddersfield. If they don't win again, the Red Devils will become just the 10th top-flight team to win just two matches all season. Dewsbury were the first, in 1977-78, and three more did it in the following seven years, all newly promoted sides in the era of four-up, four-down.
The full-time realities of Super League brought a further flurry of flops, from Workington and PSG managing just 12 points between them in Super League's first season, to London Broncos and Hull doing the same last year. And still some people want to promote three clubs to Super League this winter.
Salford are aiming to better their previous nadir, when they finished bottom of the 25-team league 104 years ago with just 9.4% of their available points, which is how the table was calculated when not everyone played the same number of games. Getting less than 10% of the available points is rare. Leigh Centurions did it as recently as 2021, when they were hastily promoted during the pandemic to replace Toronto.
Ranking the worst sides in history is a tricky task. Even though Halifax finished the season with zero points in 2003, they did so with a higher win percentage than London Broncos in 2014, Barrow in 1990 and Rochdale in 1991. When it comes to average scorelines over a season, Salford's is a 41-8 defeat, which is marginally better than Barrow's average of 44-8. The worst ever defence belongs to the London Broncos team of 2014, which leaked 46 points per game. But Salford are scoring fewer points than any top division team before them: just 7.6 per game.
But even in the darkest days, some bright lights shine. Young talent emerged from the humiliated Rochdale Hornets in Neil Cowie, Darren Abram and Martin Hall. Paul Crarey survived playing nearly every game for Barrow in their horror season and is about to coach them for a record-breaking 350th match. Josh Drinkwater, George Griffin and Mike McMeeken were on the receiving end of weekly batterings with London Broncos in 2014 but went on to have stellar Super League careers.
It's a similar scene at Salford this year. Several unknown kids thrown into the deep end have managed to swim. Some are having a whale of a time. Kai Morgan, signed from Leeds last summer to be a backup halfback, has played at pivot nearly every game. Nathan Connell has gone from a sixth form college in Eccles to facing Super League's record tryscorer Ryan Hall – and survived.
Their standout player on Friday night, full-back Declan Murphy, was making his senior rugby league debut having arrived on trial from New Zealand via Hertfordshire. After a shaky opening, Murphy settled and soon shone, safe under Jake Connor's aerial bombardment, dazzling with his footwork and speed. Three years ago, Murphy left school in Auckland to join Wasps academy. When they folded, Saracens gave him a chance. His only experiences of senior rugby have been on loan spells at Reading, Harpenden, Ampthill and, earlier this year, Bishop's Stortford – all in union.
'Out of all this tough situation, the shining light is that we get to give people opportunities that they probably wouldn't get,' says Rowley. 'It's a source of pride. We're pretty good at unearthing some decent talent. Hopefully Declan joins that list, along with Sam Hill and others. He's got some raw attributes: he's brave, he's fast, skilful. There's always something good to look for.' Red Devils fans can hang on to that.
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