Salford sign prop Tyler Dupree until end of 2023

Salford Red Devils are pleased to announce the signing of young prop Tyler Dupree from Widnes Vikings until the end of 2023.

The 22-year-old started at Salford’s scholarship six years ago before joining Leeds Rhinos’ academy. Prop Dupree then had spells at Featherstone Rovers, Batley Bulldogs and York City Knights before signing for Oldham Roughyeds for the 2021 Betfred Championship season, finishing that year with the competition’s Young Player of the Year Award.

Dupree was then picked up by Widnes Vikings ahead of 2022 and after a number of impressive performances for the Championship side, has earned his chance in the Betfred Super League.

In 34 career appearances so far, the young forward has scored an impressive 14 tries.

Speaking on signing for Salford, Dupree said: I’m really excited. Playing in Super League is what I’ve been working towards.

“I’m ready to work hard and make an impression. I’m here to take the rough with the smooth, take it day by day and just enjoy it.”

Dupree is looking forward to working with Paul Rowley and is ready to show the head coach what he is capable of.

“Rowls (Rowley) has been honest, straight to the point and has told me what he wants and expects from me for the rest of this season and next. I’m really looking forward to working under him.”

Head coach Paul Rowley said: “The playing group and staff are pleased to welcome Tyler to the club and look forward to him challenging for a spot. He has fantastic attributes to play in the middle and our environment will provide him the ideal platform to progress and fulfil his potential.”

Director of rugby and operations, Ian Blease, commented: “The addition of Tyler is a great bit of business for Salford, to sign such a talented and enthusiastic rugby league player who is still very young.

“He’s really established himself as a quality player over the last couple of seasons and I’m excited to see him get a well-deserved shot in Super League.”

As part of the deal, Josh Johnson will go the other way and link-up with Widnes immediately.

Johnson arrived at the Red Devils during the middle of the 2019 season, playing a part in the  Red Devils’ run to our first ever Grand Final in October of that year.

The following season, Johnson was part of the squad that propelled Salford to their first Challenge Cup Final in 51 years.

On Johnson’s departure, Rowley commented: “The playing and coaching staff wish Josh the best of luck at his new club. He’s been a very popular member of the team for several years and leaves with all our respect and continued friendship.”

Director of rugby and operations, Ian Blease, added: “Josh has been a great part of our team, especially in the run-up to both the Grand Final and Challenge Cup Final.

“I wish Josh all the best and I thank him for his fantastic service to Salford. I’m confident he will thrive at Widnes.”

RED DEVILS IN DEPTH:  ST HELENS V SALFORD

Anyone who had felt that the Red Devils would not be able to follow up their vastly improved performance at Wigan with anything similar, only five days later, against the current Super League Champions, again on their own ground, must have had one almighty shock.  Not only did the Reds repeat their dominant performance of the previous week at the Totally Wicked Stadium, they improved on it even further.

Whereas at the DW, everyone had left feeling disappointed at our not managing to take the Warriors into Golden Point Extra Time, last night we were all disappointed that we had not won, for indeed, over the eighty minutes, Salford were the better team.

In fact, St Helens can consider themselves rather lucky to have come away with the points, and indeed there were many of their fair-minded supporters who readily acknowledged this.  They are renowned throughout the league for their uncompromising, physical, style of play, but, on this occasion, they came up against a team which was every bit as physical as they always are, if not the more so.

The first evidence Saints had that we were up against such a well-drilled, enterprising, and committed side, came as early as Josh Johnson’s first bone-crunching hit-up straight from the kick-off, followed in the third minute, when prop, Jack Ormondroyd, made a magnificent thirty metre break through the middle of the field.  Although that came to nothing in itself, with Brodie Croft eventually being held short of the line, the fact that Ormondroyd had torn through the defence with seeming ease, served to inspire the whole side even further.

It was, consequently, of no surprise, when, on a second foray into their hosts’ ten metre area, their slick handling carved out sufficient room for Morgan Escare’s cleverly angled running to get him over the line, and with Chris Atkin’s conversion from his only reasonably positioned goal-scoring opportunity, giving them a six-point lead.

Indeed, if you were looking for an aspect of the game in which Salford were particularly unfortunate, it was that their subsequent two attempts at goal, which included a penalty on half time and a second half conversion, were both considerable distances out.

The game changed, unfortunately, at the mid-point of the half, when carelessness in the timing of their defensive line speed, which throughout most of the game so troubled the home side, on this occasion brought Saints a penalty, at a time when they were being penned back on their line.   In one of their best sets of the match, they gained sufficiently good field position, and possession, to cross for an unconverted try.

Sadly, this proved to be not just one but two, back-to-back, scores, the second of which came most fortuitously for the Saints, from the ball ricocheting at the end-of-set kick, off Escare and into the arms of Welsby, barely a metre from the try line.

The only try of the second half came from Salford, as a result of their continued adherence to their game-plan, in which they had gone head-to-head with St Helens, set by set, giving every bit as good as they were given, in a trial of physicality.

On a couple of occasions Saints were even forced to end their sets with kicks still within their own thirty metre area, while time and again, back would come Salford, to pin them down in their own twenty.  It was from one such set that with the assistance of a set-restart, former Saint, Matt Costello, had the great pleasure of going over in the corner for an equalising try, against his former club

Even after going behind to the two penalty goals, the Red Devils were not finished.  An interception by Chris Atkin saw him race clear over seventy metres, only to be caught from behind less than ten metres from the try line.

The final minute of the half, following the sin-binning of Welsby for the professional foul of preventing a quick play-the-ball, saw St Helens having to resort to using the set-restart rule to their own defensive advantage, by which they limited the number of tackles they had to complete, in the final fifty seconds, to only three, simply by holding tackled players down for several seconds at a time, thereby preventing any properly organised assault on their line, and finally forcing one of very few Salford handling errors, to overcome the threat.

Without succeeding in winning, however, Salford players must have gained considerable confidence from their performance against such illustrious opponents.  The fact that the Saints were able to scrape home, thanks only to two kickable penalty goals in the last ten minutes, tells its own story.  All that is needed now is for this form to be taken into the next few fixtures, starting with our home game with Leeds in a fortnight’s time.

Josh Johnson – “We want to get some silverware”

Salford Red Devils prop Josh Johnson believes his side are on the road to more memorable occasions this season, despite a rocky start so far.

Speaking after making his return from injury against Hull FC last Saturday, Johnson remained confident that the Red Devils were on track to compete over the course of the Betfred Super League season and that fresh faces in both the staff and the squad had brought a new energy to the team.

Johnson said: “It is quite refreshing having new people come in because it brings new ideas, new drills, just a whole different thing, a new set of eyes looking on what we are doing. So, on a personal note, it has probably helped me so I think it can only push us on even further.

“Our ambitions this year are no different, we want to get some silverware and we have come up short twice now.

“I think everyone in the squad and the new additions we have brought in, we are all heading in the same direction and I think we are going to turn it around and get to some more big occasions and get some silverware.”

On the prospect of facing Widnes Vikings in Round Three of the Betfred Challenge Cup this Saturday, Johnson is ready for what he believes is still going to be a tough test against a strong Betfred Championship side.

“Widnes are a tough opposition, like you say they are in the Championship, but that gives them that extra bit of hunger to try to turn us over, so we have got to be ready for that this weekend.

“I think they will come with a lot of hunger and aggression and I think we will need to match it and out enthuse them and our talented players in our squad will overcome them and I am confident we will get the win.”

You can purchase an Our League game day pass for Salford’s Third Round tie against Widnes Vikings HERE, at an early bird price of £4.95.

Image credit: Steve McCormick

Written by: Megan Wellens

Josh Johnson – “I do feel at home at Salford”

Salford Red Devils prop Josh Johnson’s decision to extend his stay at a place he now calls home was a “no-brainer” for the 26-year-old.

After signing an extension until 2022, Johnson is pleased to have committed his future to Salford alongside Ryan Lannon recently

Johnson said: “When it all came about it was a no-brainer for me. I have chopped and changed but I do feel at home at Salford.

“There’s some good people at the club.”

The 26-year-old is looking forward to gelling with some of the new lads that have joined ranks with the Red Devils ahead of this season with the likes of Elijah Taylor and Darcy Lussick bringing in substantial NRL experience.

“It’ll be good to take the field with them and it’s good to be around them day-to-day at training.

“The better quality we keep bringing in, like the club’s doing, it’s only going to improve us lads who are trying to get to that kind of level they’ve got to,” Johnson added.

A product of Salford’s academy, Johnson wants to help the next wave of young talent come through at the AJ Bell.

“As you get older you want to try and help the young lads come through.

“If you only get one coming through it’s a success,” Johnson said.

Supporters can join Johnson this year, by purchasing a 2021 season ticket. Further details can be found HERE.

 

 

 

Ryan Lannon – “A responsibility on us”

Salford Red Devils forward Ryan Lannon believes more players will come through the ranks at the The Salford Stadium over the coming years, following his contract extension until 2023. 

A product of Salford’s academy, Lannon made his senior debut in 2015 and had a brief spell at Hull Kingston Rovers, before returning in 2019.

The 25-year-old’s extension was announced alongside Josh Johnson, who he played alongside in the Red Devils youth setup – and Lannon believes they can act as role models for the next wave of young talent at Salford, who will be nurtured by the Club’s first Head of Rugby Development, Talent & Pathways, Paul Rowley.

Lannon said: “There is a bit of a responsibility on us to go round and speak to the kids who are in and around the Foundation, to tell them there is a pathway through at Salford.

“I think that’s what the Club needs. It’s only me and JJ (Josh Johnson) left at the minute, so it would be good to get other kids through and hopefully by us signing, the kids know there’s a pathway through to the first team.”

Last season saw Academy graduates Conor Aspey and Luis Roberts both make their Betfred Super League debuts for the Red Devils, with Aspey recently offered a trial.

Reflecting on his contract extension, it was a simple decision for Lannon to pledge his future to the Club.

“It was a very easy decision for me, because I’ve obviously been here most of my career,” he said.

“I had no intentions of going anywhere else, I just wanted to get it done.

“Salford was the only club in mind for me.”

Lannon is hoping the Red Devils can push on in 2021 to bring some silverware home and believes it can be done with the squad now at Salford.

“I think we’ve got a really good squad this year, we’ve got a really good balance,” he said.

“With Rich (Richard Marshall) coming in and with the experience he’s had at St Helens – with what he’s bringing into the Club, I think we’re in a better position and I think we’ll have a real good year.”

Supporters can join Lannon this year, by purchasing a 2021 season ticket. Further details can be found HERE.

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