SALFORD RED DEVILS star Tyler Dupree has broken his silence on his transfer request, negotiations with Hull KR and conflicting version of events.
The England prop – who made his debut against France earlier this year – was the subject of a number of news stories last month following a rejected Hull KR bid to bring him to Craven Park.
Dupree then handed in a transfer request, but he has sought to issue clarity on the subject.
“It’s not a case of me wanting out at all. I’ve said it before that I love Salford as a club and they have really taken a chance on me,” Dupree told the Walkers Only Podcast.
“But I was given the opportunity to explore other ventures, other routes. I got far in contract negotiations and it sort of came away.
“Because I was told I could get better and then Salford pulled me back and said ‘it doesn’t matter now’. It sort of left me wanting better.
“But, I always say I play for Salford, I’m not going to not put the effort in for Salford. Like I say, I love the club and I love the lads. It was that moment was a blip. I’d say it was miscommunication more than anything.
“But the CEO, I’ve not spoken to the CEO. I think it could have been handled in a better situation and in a better, but it wasn’t.
“I was getting offered something better now but next week I could have a career-ending injury. You have to think about yourself sometimes and the club where I am at, they won’t have an interest if I can’t provide for them. A lot of players get injured and they are forgotten by the club.
Dupree himself admitted that the social media storm that erupted after the news broke took its toll on his mum and sister as he attempted to put his own story out.
“I’m not going to lie, I did struggle with it at first because I’ve never been exposed to something like this so I was getting quite a bit of s***.
It was stuff that people were speculating and making it up. I’m reading every tweet and I’m saying ‘that’s not true and that’s not true. Then you think ‘well, this is what they think’.
“Without being disrespectful, I’m there to do a job for my team. Fans are very fickle. If we start doing bad, they’re on our back, but if we start doing good, they love us.
“I’ve just got on with it, it is peoples’ opinions I’ve stopped caring what people think about me. As long as I’m doing well and doing myself justice it doesn’t really matter.
“I think the hardest bit of all this has been my family have had to see it. I get phone calls off my mum and my sister just checking in, we are tight knit.
“When I were in the thick of it I was getting calls off my mum asking me everyday ‘are you alright’? I think that’s because between us three, my sister and my mum have quite bad depression. So they automatically think if it’s going to bother them, it’s going to bother me and bring me down.
“It’s hard having to reassure them of that. I’ve told them not to look at it because I’m not looking at it.
“I’ve got to a point where I don’t care, but it’s going to make them upset and them being upset is going to make me upset. I’m not upset about what people are saying but the impact it has on my mum and sister.
