DEBUTANT Sam Hill earned the plaudits from Paul Rowley after swapping decorating for his Salford Red Devils bow against Wigan Warriors on Friday.
The Red Devils academy player took his spot in the three-quarters with Nene Macdonald ruled out due to illness as the hosts were reduced to a bare 17 match-day squad and was among the young guns to earn the praise of his head coach.
A forward pass denied Hill a debut try, although fellow Salford youth product Nathan Connell did managed to get his first for the club in the 46-6 defeat to Wigan and Rowley hailed the way his youthful side stepped up amid continuing adversity for Super League’s bottom side.
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A big @WiganWarriorsRL win on the road 🍒#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/0PmbJskGIU
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 30, 2025
“The really pleasing thing for me was Sam Hill,” Rowley told Sky Sports. “He’s trained with us once in his life and was all ready and kitted up to start decorating, and we gave him a quick shout and got him in.
“I thought he did fantastically well on the wing and then Nathan Connell getting his try as well, that’s recognition for what he’s been doing week after week.
“They surprised themselves a little bit, our boys, in how competitive they were at times, so I’ve got to take my hat off to them.
“The effort, endeavour, loyalty – all the adjectives you want of rugby players and teams. So, I’m proud of them but, as always, disappointed to lose.”
Last year’s play-off contenders remained mired in off-field adversity as Super League’s regular season reaches its midway point, and are still awaiting the outcome of a tribunal brought against the club after being charged with fielding a weakened team in the opener against St Helens back in February.
While he took some positives from his team’s showing in the defeat to the reigning champions, Rowley admitted his frustration with no end in sight to the financial issues still affecting the Red Devils.
“You’ve got to remember, Salford finished fourth last year so we’re not going to get excited about scoring a try against Wigan,” Rowley said.
“We’re not some third-division side, we want to win games and turn up to win games.
“We’ve gone through quite a bit and I’m sick of talking about it, but we just want to start building, fix things up and winning some games.”