ANDY Ackers revealed Tyler Dupree’s departure was what first raised questions for him about the financial stability of Salford Red Devils.
Ackers and former Man of Steel Brodie Croft both moved to Leeds Rhinos in a joint £300,000 transfer from the Red Devils in October 2023, but it was prop Dupree’s swtich to Wigan three months earlier after handing in a transfer request which raised concerns for the England international.
Hooker Ackers was eager to avoid be caught in another situation like he was when Toronto Wolfpack collapsed in 2020 and made the decision to depart along with halfback Croft when the Rhinos came calling.
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“I made that decision personally and a lot of that came from the experience I had at Toronto,” Ackers told Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast.
“When Tyler left, we’d all signed big deals and there were a lot of us.
“You were saying to yourself ‘I’m all right here, I’ve signed a great deal, the club is all right’, then when you hear Tyler is going it’s like ‘Well, something has dropped here, what’s going on next?’.
“We’d just finished the season and there was talk of Brodie leaving and it just goes from there. I personally said ‘I would like to go’ and 24-48 hours later [I signed for Leeds].”
Fast forward 18 months and Salford are mired in financial strife even after a takeover was approved in February and have seen several key members of their first-team squad depart while being forced to operate under a sustainability cap.
Ackers, who has not featured for Leeds since March 14 due to a calf injury, praised the work being done by his former Salford and Toronto head coach Paul Rowley amid trying circumstances for him, the players and the club staff.
“Rowls is a really strong person and strong individual, and part of this he’ll probably be loving – not loving what’s happening financially-wise, but he’s got that kind of mentally of ‘Any challenge, I’ll face it’,” Ackers said.
“It’s a credit to him and credit to the boys because you could imagine, mentally, coming into work thinking ‘Am I going to get paid?’.
“You’re going into your savings to pay your mortgage and stuff like that, so it’s quite worrying.
“Rowls is a really strong individual and only time will tell with that place, but best of luck to them.”
Ackers was one of the players owed unpaid wages from the demise of Toronto during the Covid-19 pandemic and March 2024 saw the branch of the GMB Union representing them launch court proceedings to recoup over £1.2million.
Led by former Great Britain international front row Garreth Carvell, the branch has finally managed to secure compensation for those players who were members and Ackers confirmed they have started to receive payments.
“We’ve received a lot of compensation payments over the years, but the GMB have been doing a really good job for us acting on our behalf and things like that,” Ackers said.
“We got 50 percent last month and we’re due another 50 percent of it next month, I think, so hopefully we get it.”
