Lost 28-12 at Dewsbury, coundn't go, watched scores and comments on twitter.I was a bit alarmed at the lost ball and penalties given away.
Any comments from anyone who went ? How did the young lads go ?

There seems to be the usual 'unrealistic' attitude and ideas from some Salford fans on twitter. Unable to understand that friendlies are still part of the pre-season training. If you attend friendlies you have to expect that you're in no way seeing the final product. Taking a full strength side and blasting Dewsbury off the park achieves nothing. Youngsters and fringe players have been put under pressure of a game situation to see how they perform. It's about individual performance and taking the opportunity. Final scores have no bearing on the coming season and fans going to friendlies need to keep a firm foot on the ground in the way that they appraise what unfolds in front of them.

Agreed.
I said in an earlier post ,on expectations from the friendlies, that I just wanted to start the season free of injuries and suspensions.
I still think that.

Today was all part of the preseason preparation, gave the young players a chance, did OK but came up against some big guys, to be fair Dewsbury moved the ball well around the park & used the strong wind better than us.
Don't look to much into today games, obviously Harris did not pay too much importance on today game.

Theo & Niall Evalds were both stand out for Salford, Adam Walne sent off for high tackle, I think next week we will see more first teamers introduced.

Surprised you thought theo was good. I thought the lack of cohesion from the halves was a big problem, Niall did do some good things, but no idea where he was playing. Not enough of the senior players on show stood up.

I went. Saw quite a few Salford fans there (although it was cold so a lot had coats on.). Did you go 'TheButcher'? No way should you be lecturing fans on what to expect when you couldnt even be bothered going. Most of us paid quite a bit to go and believe me, if I based attendances on seeing winning teams I would have stopped supporting Salford 35 years ago. Parking was cheap, stadium was better than expected but it felt a bit like Wakefield at the end of last season to me; the quality was present but the effort was virtually non-existent.

A few thoughts:

1) Jay Walton was good and impressed me on a day of few positives. He may not have played brilliantly but he did show effort and enthusiasm in bundles which cant be said for a few of our other players.

2) I saw the squad for this game and knew it was going to be weak but travelled anyway. The problem is though Ive started to question the point of friendlies in which teams just play their under 19s. What is the gain from it? The players will play for each other in the u19s league so why play them in a game with just 4/5 first teamers? It wont really give them any experience of first team rugby if 90% of the people they play with are also u19.

3) New signings. Every fan likes to hype up new signings and we normally give them benefit of the doubt and time to prove themselves. Rightly so. I was disappointed with Scott Taylor and Liam Hood today though. Taylor honestly wouldnt have looked out of place in the Championship on that performance - I suspect he must have been playing with an injury or not being fully fit. Did Wigan know something we didnt when they sold him? Liam Hood was average. Hardly inspiring and didnt really offer much when the going got tough.

4) Ive said it before and Il say it again. Our youth system is probably 30 years behind the likes of leeds and Wigan and it doesnt look like it will catch up anytime soon.

FINALLY. It was a friendly. It wont define our season. Should we have played a Super League team in a pre-season friendly? I think so, butr that wouldnt have changed the result today. I still think we have a chance for top 8 but lets hope Taylor, Hood and co step up their game.

Of course I can lecture them. They don't have to listen or accept it. Doesn't mean I'm wrong though does it?

Here's an analogy...(And it's not directed at anyone)

A moron attends every match of the season. Does he stop becoming a moron because of this? Is his moronic views somehow more valid?

I didn't go today, because I'm not overly interested in paying to watch extended training sessions, and that's no disrespect to either Club. Friendlies are the final preparations for a full season and so are not going to be cohesive or even competitive. Some fans seem to to think that they know how to coach better than those paid to do so. It is those type of fans that my previous post was directed at. As their expectations and ideas do not match with reality.

Of course you're entitled to lecture me all you want. These things go both ways.

Are you a Salford fan Mario, a question you've been asked a couple of times but studiously avoided.

Redidiot, I suppose I judged the two stand out players for us based on the only real good work we did when we attacked there line always involved both theo & Niall?

They were the halfbacks apart from the hooker, they touch the ball the most. Today they played like individuals, hock didn't help trying to do everything himself second half, when there we're better options.. Still I thought some of the younger players fronted up well, others didn't look ready..

Ha ha, you just proved you didnt go.

Who do you support?

Not surprised with the result after looking at the team sheet.It would only be Hock & Taylor who would be in our starting 13 week in & out. Following it on twitter we seem to give alot of penaltys away. How did Forster and Hood do? I would imagine now Harris will be mixing the first team now against Swinton and Hunslet. There seem to be alot of doom and gloom on twitter after yesterdays result which i find baffling. The only thing i got from yesterdays result and performance from what people are saying is that our youth are far behind from the likes of the wigans and leeds which isnt surprising. Bring on Swinton

Unfortunately i went to the game and paid good money. I don't want to sound to negative put chucking in all the young players with the exception of Taylor & Hock was not the best move by Harris. The youngsters would of been better off playing with at least 6 more first teamers and the same next week. Seemed unfair on all the kids really.

Although there were some decent performances out there i thought Liam Hood looked pretty decent as did Forster and the young Lannan when he came on.

Still looking forward to the season though not letting a friendly get me down especially with a pretty full team missing.

And the person who said there was only 30+ supporters must of been drunk because there must of been around 200-300 at least!

Harris has shown he is prepared to support his junior coaches and isn't afraid to give youth players a chance. On yesterday's evidence they are some way off but at least he knows now where our youth system is and that more hard work needs to be done. It was a shrewd ' win - win' move really in a meaningless game because nobody can accuse him of overlooking the youth setup.

I understand them giving the youth a good chance that i can have no complaints with but he should of mixed it both this game and the next. And then gone with what he thinks will be his starting team against Warrington in his last friendly. That's just my opinion i guess these games don't really matter to much unless like me yesterday you spend a small fortune watching it!

In fairness the squad for the game was announced publicly last week and nobody was forced to go.

I stupidly already paid for my train tickets!

SSDD.

I was thinking I'm looking forward to the start of the season and i am, but what I haven't missed is the bitching and grumbling.

What do people seriously expect from a pre season game?, Harris obviously wanted to blood a few youngsters and see how they coped, pretty certain more first team players will be involved next week and then a pretty much full strength outfit will play in the last friendly. We've complained for God knows how long about not being a professionally run outfit yet now we have one and a coach who seems to be going about things in the right way people still can only find negatives.

oh well a good performance against Swinton and this will all be forgotten about!
Still positive about the season ahead and some of the youngsters like i said in an earlier post did themselves no harm!

Harris' team selection yesterday was a bit strange considering dewsbury are the strongest team we play in pre-season. However most of the team we put out have either played super league or been a standout at championship level, so we shouldn't blame the youngsters because in my opinion they performed as well as some of the first teamers yesterday. Senior players should have produced more, only jay Walton looked fired up for the game. Scott Taylor was shocking.

I heard Scott Taylor had a shocking game and looked over weight. He hasnt had much game time at wigan so maybe abit rusty so he could only get better

Let's just say he wasn't at his best yesterday but for me he will be amongst the 17. I thought Forster did himself no harm yesterday!

Am I really reading some of these comments. I’m pretty certain before the game, the vast majority of the squad were looking forward to the game and wanting to impress coaches, families and supporters. Many were making their first team debuts and at 19 years of age, in their first competitive game for the club are you telling me they didn’t give 100% effort?

Sure it was a disjointed performance, strewn with errors but this is a team that has been thrown together in their first hit out of the season. We had players playing out of position against a very experienced and solid Dewsbury side. It was even Hocks first game back since July.

I am sure the experience of being involved the first team coaches and playing against a much higher quality of opponent than they are use to in front of a decent crowd will have served those lads well.

I don't think anyone is blaming them. This was a fantastic opportunity to shine and it shows the clubs investment in their development. For many of them I'm sure it didn't go as well as hoped but it's character building and I'm sure they will of learned from the experience. Today is a new day and it's back to the hard work with the added determination to improve.

John I wasn't suggesting the youngsters weren't trying, quite the opposite. I do think it was strange to throw so many of them in without more senior players around them. Some of them looked to have potential, we have to remember the weather conditions made it a slug fest, which isn't ideal for teenagers to make their debuts. I'm a big advocate of youth, I even try to watch the 19's, but this was the wrong game and the wrong way to blood so many.