SALFORD RED DEVILS will ask the RFL for dispensation to bring in more loan players after reaching the limit allowed in a matchday squad.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Catalans Dragons, Salford have signed winger Jake Thewlis from Warrington Wolves and prop Harvey Makin from Wigan Warriors on month loans.
Under RFL rules, clubs are allowed five loan players in any matchday squad, or six if at least one of them is signed on a season-long basis.
Salford now have six in total, with Jonny Vaughan (St Helens) and Toby Warren (Leeds Rhinos) signed for the season, Tiaki Chan on a rolling loan from Wigan and Castleford Tigers’ George Hill on board for at least a month.
The Red Devils are trying to reduce their salary cap under special measures imposed by the RFL and replacing their own full-time players with loanees – such as the swaps taking Kallum Watkins to Leeds for Warren and Brad Singleton to Castleford for Hill – are helping achieve this.
But they will be unable to make any further such moves without dispensation from the governing body, as they cannot field any more than six loan players.
Salford head coach Paul Rowley said: “We can’t have any more now.
“Our narrative was to get rid of players and bring loan players in, but we can’t get rid of any more players if we can’t bring anybody in, otherwise we won’t be able to fulfil fixtures.
“The initial response yesterday (Monday, from the RFL on the prospect of dispensation) was ‘we’ve never done that before, so it’s a no’.
“But I don’t think anyone has had a situation like this before, so we’ll keep asking that same question.”
Rowley also set out why it would not be right for him to field players from the club’s reserve and academy teams in Super League.
“We have an academy and reserves set-up which was purposely stripped bare,” he explained.
“The reserves have ten or twelve players which we would top up with academy (players), because we wanted to sacrifice results and concentrate having that first step on the ladder to develop youngsters and have a true pathway. We wanted it there for the reasons it’s meant to be.
“So they’re not ready to step up, certainly not the academy players. It would be reckless to expose them.
“We’re getting crunched, that is for sure.”
