Neville you know I was being sarcastic, right?

Yes of course, you know your stuff ,do you want me to respond to your team ?

Tasi is more of an impact player, i would start Griffin at prop.

You guys putting Fages as a hooker, seriously ? The poor kid was targetted in defence all last season and he was constantly run over the top of or beaten on the outside shoulder (he worringly lacks pace at the highest level) I thought the days of putting square pegs in round holes are behind us. For what it's worth I would like to see Owen given a decent go at it. I don't really know much about Lee but Owen is a better passer than both Howarth and Fages and has the nack of getting over the try line. Back to the Fages reference, did't stand out for France at all, no-one did they was poor. Even there young prospect Escare failed to shine. I won't give my views on Howarth, he lost me at London the other year although I do think, him along side Lee will be what Noble goes with.

I forgot to add I hope Dixon kicks on this year with better players around him. Thought he was top draw last year,even more so after playing ridiculous amount of minutes. Not sure how much of Ashurst we will see, had first season, less so last. Maybe playing alot of minutes burnt him out and we had to play him as needs must.

How is steve rapira training , is he fully fit now ?

I don't know if the overseas players are here yet. I imagine they'll spend christmas with their families and join the squad in South Africa for the warm weather training, before coming over to England.

Marwan said at the Pendleton fans night, that they were going to look at signing him when England played at the stadium but then he got injured and they have stepped back now until next year to see if he recovers from the injury sufficiently before deciding if to go back in for him or not. Brain then spoke up about Greg Johnson and watch out for him as he will surprise a few.

With respect to Wakefield I don't think it necessary to field the strongest side.
As playing Chase will give the opposition support a player to target,due to him being the main player in their derby games with Castleford,a further weeks rest following his long drawn out signing silence and World Cup disappointment
won't cause any harm and give someone else an opportunity.
It's a marathon not a sprint and even though a good start is preferable I think victory can be achieved without Chase in the starting 13.
I have no problem with him playing against Castleford home and away and no problem with Smith playing against Wakefield.

Tweet today from Jake Mullaney

"Jake Mullaney ‏@jake_mullaney

Finally made it here @SalfordDevils absolutely stuffed from the travel looks like I'll be in bed asleep before dinner!"

So at least one is here even if he is asleep

I'm genuinely glad you have a few decent players now but do you not think you're counting your chickens a bit too early? Don't get me wrong I'd back you to beat the lower sides this year but you should probably rack up a few wins before resting players. We have a far superior side and still don't rest key players in the first rounds.

Couldn't agree more(I'm a Salford fan). The Wakefield game is one we should be going all out to win IMO.

I was just about to post the same thing, no way can we afford to rest Chase we need him and Smith to gel together as quickly as possible not just in training but on match days too, and tbh we're not at a stage yet where we can just rest our best players.

Spot on - it would be a massive anti-climax if we lost that one and it's odds on that Wakey will be fired up to spoil our party

That has to be the stupidest post ever posted on this forum and that takes some doing. Resting players for the first game of the season, lord give me strength.

We have daft posts and daft posters, but I am with Martin, this one is as daft as it gets. We need to win our first fame to gain momentum and not waste crowd enthusiasm as we have done time after time in the past.

Whoops game not fame

Personally I'd like to see;

1.Mullaney
2.Meli
3.S'au
4.Gleeson
5.Williams
6.Chase
7.Smith
8.Griffin
9.Lee
10.McPhearson
11.Hock
12.Hansen
13.Dixon

14.Theo
15.Morley
16.Tasi
17. Rapira

Whoops game not fame

We must put the strongest possible team out for the first few games to build a good head of steam up, the Wakefield game especially we need to go out all guns blazing from the first to last minute. A big game and even bigger win would shut some detractors up and I'd love nothing more than the idiots on SKY to be forced to eat a massive piece of humble pie about the club, the team and the Doc.

Essential we get on a roll and hopefully win the first two games.

The third match - a home game against Saints - is live on Sky. The players MUST show up for this game and showcase ourselves to the wider viewing public.

Do we have any decent goal kickers amongst them? We have struggled in that area for a long time. Genuine question, as I simply don't know who the kickers are.

Isn't Jake Mullaney in the frame for kicking duties?

It seems some disagree with the notion of not playing Chase.I think it would prevent the Wakefield followers from having a reason to be vociferous from minute one to minute eighty and also give an opportunity to Theo to demonstrate the full range of his skills to his national coach,Agar.
I am not too 'up' on incidents involving Chase in games against Wakefield but as there promises to be a large,expectant and excitable crowd for the first time at Barton I wouldn't mind seeing how the less experienced players perform in front of a large crowd.
There is an entire squad of players who need to perfect partnerships and need to gel.

I am hopeful of bigger attendances and bigger games later in the year,by which time the strongest starting line-up will be established.

“Rugby League is a simple game, played by simple people, Rugby Union is a complex game played by w@nkers”
~ Laurie Daley

Seems to me Red-Devils_Paw wants to overcomplicate things - keep it simple, put out our best side, win matches?