To get to their Challenge Cup tie on Saturday, Salford fans had to find their way to the end of a dark, long and winding road to reach the lights of Chiswick Rugby. It was a metaphor for their last year. A few months ago Salford’s stay in Super League was ending in chaotic scenes and Hammersmith Hills Hoists were being crowned Southern Conference champions. And yet, when the clubs met by Barnes Bridge on Saturday night, many aficionados expected them to be well matched.
Hammersmith, formed by Aussie backpackers two decades ago and jokingly nicknamed after a washing line, had never seen a night like it: a couple of hundred Salford fans in red and white, chanting and banging drums, circled their 4G pitch to urge on their new team – a bunch of callow youths who would either rise to the occasion or crack. Many neutrals had come down to see a giant-killing.
That was on the cards for a few minutes, especially after the burley forward Callum Corey had given Hammersmith the lead. It took the veteran hooker Brad Dwyer – the one well-known Salford player – to steady the ship and put them on course for a comfortable 42-10 victory.
Just six players remain from the 72 who played in Super League for Salford Red Devils last year. Dwyer, who has made 250 appearances in Super League, is very much an outlier. At 32 he is a decade older than nearly every other member of the Salford squad, the bulk of whom were reserve or academy players at the old club. The only man left from the team that started last season is the full-back Ryan Brierley. He’s now the chief executive. Even that is a misnomer, given he is one of only three non-rugby staff.
“I don’t know how long Brad will be with us because he’s a Super League player,” admitted Brierley. “He’s far too good for us. But a part-time contract allows him to do his things off the field [managing property], so it suits both parties. If a Super League club comes in, I’ll do the right thing and let him go.”
A lifelong Salford fan, Brierley was at Old Trafford with his mates roaring on the team in the 2019 Super League grand final. Six years later, with him captaining a sinking ship, they folded. On Saturday night he was watching his phoenix club with the co-owner Mason Caton-Brown, the former Red Devils winger, who says his two main aims this year are to pay everyone on time and keep home games “busy and fun”. Their third-round tie against Hull FC will surely be that.
“We need to manage expectation,” said Brierley. “It’s not going to happen overnight. We just need to make sure we do things right, building the foundations from the ground up. I’m really happy with how it’s started.”
Like last year, there will be a high turnover of players in the opening weeks of the season as the coach, Mike Grady, searches for capable talent. They are a disparate group: the highly-rated goal-kicking winger Sam Hill and experienced centre Joe Hartley shone on Saturday alongside a handful of teenagers, players on loan from Widnes and Midlands Hurricanes, and signings from Hull FC, St Helens and Whitehaven.
“It’s not even about quality – there’s no one out there!” said Brierley. “We only got the decision [for the RFL licence] in late December so every player was signed up. There are no players available, apart from loans, and you’re only allowed five of them, and they don’t want to get cup-tied. We’re having to stay patient. But that’s probably done me a favour: slowing recruitment down and making sure we do things right. Luckily, a few of our reserve players hung on for the club to be rescued. And it was important to have people who knew what the club was about, who understood what happened last year.”
Does Brierley, still only 33, want to put the kit back on and get out there to help? “The itch to play is still in there, but I’m in place now to run this organisation with the highest professionalism. I lost a lot of love for playing last year. The situation ruined me a little bit. I’m enjoying helping the club build again. I feel like it’s a natural development in my career, too.”
It’s abundantly clear Salford’s fans will support their thrown-together team of plucky young underdogs in the Championship. One retired couple standing near me have been following the club for decades. “We’re just so grateful we’ve still got a team to watch every week. We’ll miss Catalans away, though: we’ve been there the last 20 years!”
They will appreciate the commitment of forward Leunbou Bardyel Wells, who combines his rugby with his software engineering degree. “I’m just so happy to be here,” he said. “When the club was liquidated I had absolutely no idea if I had a future at Salford. I was terrified, but when Ryan and Mason and the whole consortium brought it back together, I was like: ‘Wow – I’ve got another crack here. Let’s go!’ It’s a bit difficult with uni so far, getting the train up to Manchester, then my teammate picks me up, we train and then back to Northampton the same day. Where’s there’s a will there’s a way. I don’t want to wake up in a couple years and think: ‘Oh, I should have tried it.’” Little wonder he was overjoyed: his previous two appearances ended in an aggregate score of 146-0.
Rafael van Osselaer, raised in Northwich by parents from Antwerp, has also caught the eye with exciting bursts from full-back. “It’s incredible – I’m loving it,” said the Belgium Under-18 union international. “I love all the fans, walking to the pitch and seeing everyone’s there to watch you. It’s a great feeling: everyone smiling, the fans happy again. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
London Broncos supporters know how this feels. They have been through similar torture several times, including last winter when the club went perilously close to folding. They were also in action in the Challenge Cup over the weekend, sweeping aside the amateurs of Wests Warriors at Richmond, the first London derby featuring a professional team since Streatham & Mitcham beat Acton & Willesden 90 years ago.
Just like Salford, in their opening Championship game, London fielded only three players from last season. But the Broncos’ rebirth is the polar opposite to Salford’s. Financed by new owners, the mining magnate Grant Weschel and Brisbane Broncos legend Darren Lockyer, they signed 10 overseas players – all internationals or from the NRL – seven of whom played in the club’s 86-0 annihilation of Wests Warriors. While Salford have gone from every game being live on Sky to Saturday’s not even being covered on the radio, whereas London’s opening Championship win over Widnes has now been watched by more than 100,000 online, many following their Papua New Guinea heroes from the Pacific.
While Brierley is adamant that Salford have the lowest budget in the Championship, London are clearly spending more than the £1m that usually guarantees a grand final place. The new London coach, Jason Demetriou, thinks his team will also evolve considerably this spring. “We have a new group that’s come together in a short space of time. It’s a long season. The team we are now will be very different in the next two or three months, and then the team we grow into by the back end of the season.”
Demetriou will have to develop his squad but he knows he is expected to add titles to those he won at Keighley, Northern Pride and Illawarra Steelers. “There’s a level of expectation as a London Bronco and I expect the players to meet those expectations every week. That’s going to be the challenge. It’s not going to be the walk in the park that people think. But there’s a real energy about the place.” The same could be said for Salford.
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