From students to police officers and electrical engineers, these are the daily lives of the Salford Red Devils Women’s team.
After their formation in 2021, they are now preparing for their third season.
Due to a restructuring of the league last year, despite reaching the Women’s Super League play-offs the Red Devils were ‘relegated’ into the Championship.
Hooker, Taz Corcoran, explained the restructure.
“It’s not meant to be Super League A and B, it was only presented like that during COVID.”
Despite the personal heartbreak it caused Corcoran and her team mates, she can see the positive impact it will have on the game.
“The separation into Super League and Championship might help to push women’s rugby further, because hopefully there will be more coverage of it.”
Head coach, Mike Grady, who spends his days installing electric meters, set out the aims for his team this season.
“It’s not nice to be relegated to the Championship but we see it as a positive, it gives us another goal of getting to the top and winning it.”
The squad meets two or three times a week outside of working hours to train and have a number of new signings joining the team this year.
Police Officer, Jen Myler joins Salford Red Devils from Widnes Vikings and is excited about the season ahead.
“It’s been good seeing the girls kind of grow over the last two years, they’ve had really successful couple of years. It’s going to be really good to see what challenges we face and what kind of success we can bring from that.”
The Devils have a young team, some of whom have come across from rugby union to rugby league.
Myler continued: “Having a young team has its pros and cons. There’s some of us still trying to get used to league, there’s some still trying to learn and adapt to how Salford play but again, having a young, fit team is always good against bigger opponents.”
Data revealed by the Women’s Sport Trust showed that people in the UK are watching more women’s sport than ever on TV and attendances at games have grown as well.
Corcoran shared how the club is helping to boost the profile of the women’s team to existing fans of the men’s team.
“Salford has been great with helping the growth of the game. We play before the men so fans can watch us free of charge. The club post about us on social media, we don’t have a separate account. So we’re not like the women’s and the men’s team, it’s all one big club for us.”
As the profile of the game grows, Salford Red Devils hope they can continue to put in the eye-catching performances on the pitch to help them gain promotion back into the top flight.
Grady concluded: “Our goal is just to do as well as we can.”