Before Friday’s game against Hull FC,chairman Marwan Koukash announced that the Red Devils had swooped to sign former Leeds prop Luke Burgess and his team-mate Feleti Mateo.
Both players have been signed for the Middle 8s, which start on the first weekend of August. Both players are expected to arrive early next week.
Burgess, 29, began his career with Leeds in 2008 before following younger brother Sam, the former Bradford forward, to the NRL where they were later joined by twins Tom and George.
Both players’ will bolster the Reds squad which has been lacking in depth this season.
Salford coach Ian Watson said after the Hull game: “Our guys have really stood up during the regular season and bringing in players of Luke’s quality will give everybody a boost at this stage. We have been monitoring him since before the season and are delighted to be bringing him to the AJ Bell Stadium.
“We have been a top six team on our performances and we have to go out and get through a tough middle 8s making sure our play is up to the same standard. Luke will add to our squad and cause our opponents problems.”
Mateo, 32, is a former Parramatta and New Zealand Warriors loose forward who made 14 Super League appearances for London Broncos at the start of his career in 2005.
Red Devils director of rugby Tim Sheens said: “We are bringing in a couple of great players as insurance. You can’t risk going into the 8s and picking up a couple of injuries and finding yourself relegated.
“We are looking to get the guys over this weekend or certainly early next week to get them prepared for our first game of the qualifiers.”
The fixtures are due out this Wednesday.
