a day ago
Back-rower 'Warrington-bound' after 'refusing to play' for Salford
Sam Stone has made 50 appearances for Salford Red Devils since joining them in 2023 (Image: Olly Hassell/
WARRINGTON Wolves could be about to take advantage of Salford Red Devils' financial predicament for a second time.
That is if Sky Sports pundit Terry O'Connor is to be believed after he named The Wire as the club set to sign back-rower Sam Stone.
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The Australian was due to be in the Red Devils side to face St Helens this afternoon, but the Sky Sports commentary team of O'Connor and lead commentator Mark Wilson revealed that a Salford player had refused to play on the morning of the game, meaning they could only name a scratch 17 players.
'The first thing we notice about Salford is that they're down to the bare bones and Paul Rowley can name only 17 players today,' Wilson declared.
'He had hoped to name 18 but suffered a late withdrawal with a player refusing to play this morning. We expect further news on that.'
O'Connor then revealed that player to be Stone, who has played 88 times in the English game between spells at Salford and Leigh after arriving at the latter in 2021.
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He went on to declare that he appears set for a move to The Halliwell Jones Stadium, although club sources remained tight-lipped when approached by the Guardian following O'Connor's on-air assertion.
'The rumours are that Sam Stone doesn't want to play today – he's rumoured to be going to Warrington,' he said.
'He's only played on two occasions this year and it's so disappointing for the fans that turn up and support Salford.
'They're doing it really really tough and I'm sure there's a lot of clubs watching the situation unfold at Salford.'
Wire can add an overseas player to their squad following Zane Musgrove's departure last month, and it will be the second time they have raided stricken Salford, who have been forced to allow some of their star players to move on having been forced to operate under strict financial rules.
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One of those was scrum-half Marc Sneyd, whom The Wire are believed to have paid a transfer fee in the region of £75,000 to secure on an 18-month deal in March.
When asked about the prospect of mid-season recruitment last week, head coach Sam Burgess insisted there was nothing imminent in terms of incomings but that could be about to change with the arrival of Stone, who has scored 10 tries in 50 appearances for the Red Devils.
He would add depth to Warrington's back-row stocks with only Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Adam Holroyd and Dan Russell as current senior options.
