Shaun McRae can surely start planning for life outside of Super League after a nine-try hammering shoved his Salford side ever closer to relegation.

The Australian coach was appointed as successor to the sacked Karl Harrison in June and tasked with preserving the Reds' top-flight status.

But McRae's mission is looking increasingly difficult, with his men three points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table and with just four games to dig themselves out of trouble.

Salford were 28-4 behind at the break after being totally destroyed by a Leeds side who barely needed to get out of third gear to earn their points.

Tries from Ryan Hall, Jamie Thackray, Kylie Leuluai, Keith Senior and Danny McGuire were the least the Rhinos deserved for their stunning superiority.

Salford, to their credit, refused to surrender after the break but further scores from Scott Donald, Thackray, McGuire and Ali Lauitiiti left McRae staring at the dismal prospect of life in National League One.

McRae signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Reds upon his arrival at The Willows two months ago and is clearly here for the long haul.

But, as Super League contracts become void when a team are relegated, the likes of David Hodgson, Luke Robinson and Andy Coley are likely to quit to leave McRae little alternative than to rebuild.

Leeds were missing free-scoring scrum-half Rob Burrow and full-back Brent Webb but in truth their absence was barely noticed.

Rookie wing Hall confirmed as much when he broke Salford's pitiful resistance after just four minutes.

The 19-year-old academy product collected Gareth Ellis' neat reverse pass and showed delightful footwork and impressive pace to scamper over the line.

Prop Thackray touched down six minutes later for the Rhinos' second after latching on to a teasing grubber kick from influential hooker Matt Diskin.

Leeds' third try, in the 12th minute, was indicative of their control.

It came courtesy of Leuluai, whose uncle Philip Leuluai lined up in Salford's second row, and saw him take a clever pass from Diskin to barge over from close range for his first try in Rhinos colours.

Leeds began to move through the gears, keeping the ball at every opportunity and pinning back Salford deep inside their own half.

It came as no surprise to anyone when Diskin orchestrated a fourth Leeds score for Senior in the 22nd minute.

The Rhinos worked the ball effortlessly out to the left flank and Diskin's neat offload found the onrushing Senior bustling forward at pace to cross the whitewash.

With skipper Kevin Sinfield adding three goals from four attempts to put Leeds 22-0 ahead, Salford knew the game was effectively up.

But, to their credit, they never gave up and Stuart Littler claimed an individual try shortly before the half-hour mark after twice hacking forward and following up to ground the ball.

John Wilshere missed the conversion but McGuire pounced for Leeds' fifth try shortly before the interval hooter and Sinfield added his fourth goal.

In the 42nd minute Clinton Toopi's magical underarm offload outfoxed Salford's overworked defence and sent Donald racing clear.

Luke Dorn claimed Salford's second try in the left corner six minutes later, but Wilshere again missed the kick.

And with Thackray and McGuire both racing under the posts to complete their respective braces, the visitors were dead and buried.

However, Coley crossed the line and Wilshere added the extras to give Salford some respectability but Lauitiiti's close-range try took Leeds to 50 points.

With Sinfield having already converted seven tries, Jordan Tansey had the final say by adding the extras to Lauitiiti's late score.