This anti Robbie Paul stuff is nonesense. Best football brain in the club by far. Ratchfords time will come. Best time to play Trinity without Brough, Latte and Richard Moore.

so if he has the best football brain at the club where did it go last year and on saturday he is now past it sorry to say.go onto wigans forum the sam over there with regards to give sam tomkins a chance.been watching rugby for 30 years a it pains me to see so many overrated aussies and kiwis taking kids places.reduce the salary cap to 1 overseas player no kopak no federation rubbish no i can play because my great uncle bulgeria was married to a woman from england rubbish when we won the ashes how many aussies and kiwis where over here not many it pains me to see aussies and kiwis over here just to boost there pensions

Doesn't stop the best teams in the world rotating and come on Danny we were expected to win that one and its not as though we're on a 10 match unbeaten run. I've nothing against Robbie Paul and beleive he has a great rugby brain but a massive loss of pace. When alls said and done its up to Mcrae not the opinions of fans on here though so whatever he decides fair enough.

Has anyone mentioned Stefan Ratchford yet? It appears that he fallen off everyones radar over the past two weeks.

One of the reasons we fell off last Sat was that aswell as taking off the entire front row we also took Swain off, from getting fast play balls, allowing Alker to dictate, we were then left slightly on the backfoot whilst the subs caught up to the pace allowing Celtic to stabalise and get back into the game. McRae needs to stagger his subs more (even leaving Mal on) had he done so I suspect the impact would not have been as severe.
As for the Ratchford debate then yes he will be a very very good player for us but for now you don`t change a winning team. His time will definitely come, though i`m not sure his best position will be hooker. After all, all the moves etc which stem from the play the ball will have been run with Paul & Alker. I have reservations like everyone re the latter but for now he will stay
Oh & despite us generally playing like headless halfwits when we play Wakey away I expect to us to finally get a win over there on Sunday

You don't change a winning team but you can tweak a few things that didn't work, like the subs and timing of them, but I would put Ratchford in for Paul, and let his kicking game add further fire power to our play.

Excellent post redhope.

Paul was on the bench as hooker.
In fact, I worry have we another hooker who can pass like Alker (please no posts on faults) and tackle like Alker.

I would swop Sidlow for Lulu ...otherwise the same.

same team that beat celtic for me, if you drop someone from a winning team, apart from if they are injured, is going to do nothing for there confidence! People are calling for nash to be dropped, that was his first competitive game for a long time, give him a chance for god sake!

Pretty much the same team for me.... More bothered about the prospect of taking half the Pack off at the same again - that didn't seem to work for me???

Tough one this. We've won our opening game so the temptation is to keep everything the same but what's good to see is that any changes we make could even improve the team. It's nice to think that we're looking to strengthen on the back of a win and it's not a knee-jerk reaction to a bad loss. I'd probably go for last week's 17 but I hope we get a chance to see Stef/Sidders/Jewitt at some point over the next month before we start meeting some of the perceived stronger teams when we may have a few injuries and need to utilise our squad.

I'd drop Alker, Stapleton and Cashmere.

I think perhaps Robbie Paul is getting a bit of unfair treatment here. Part of the problem was perhaps that Alker had such an outstanding game at Hooker, and when the swap was made.... Robbie had a lot to live up to bearing in mind that everything positive was coming from around Alker.

When Robbie came on, he had a different set of props to play with. Stapleton and Cashmere had excellent games around Alker (not that the others didn't, but as far as effectiveness goes... they were the best on the park)... The game plan also changed. Alker was more often than not scooting from the play the ball... making a fast 10.... up quick with a play the ball from the tackle.... leaving Celtic on the back foot. They couldn't handle him. When Robbie came on the game changed. He was passing straight out from the play the ball... which is giving the defensive line a little more time to organise themselves... hence not looking as effective as the scooting run. But... you can't do those types of play that Alker was running for 80 mins... and as correctly stated... Robbie isn't as fast these days, so it has to be changed when he comes on. On the one occasion I noticed Robbie scoot... we looked as effective as when Alker was on the park, and we may have even scored from that set of 6. There will be games when scooting from the play the ball will not be effective... so I think it's a good thing that we have options around the ruck.

I'd drop all 17 and just play Ratchford and Turner!

Drop Alker and Smith please

Should be a good game, we have quite a few injuries so I think it will be close, will you bring many fans..?

Haven't Salford only won about once in 10 years of games at Belle Vue?

I have spent many many many dreadful afternoons at Wakefield watching us play like muppets getting beat.


Probably the worse ever being the week after Bradfut whupped us, I actually maintain this was a worse performance than Bradfut


This time with their injuries and our confidence high i expect....................................to be let down again.


Here`s hoping

Same team for me, just the substitution system needs looking at. Taking off Alker, Stapo, Cashmere and Swain at pretty much the same time was far too much. Our defensive line was shocking during that 20 minute spell and I reckon we need at least two of these on the pitch at all times.

I liked the team last weekend but i'd really like to c rachford get a game. Not only because he's good but also because i think we culd really do with keeping him. If we're not gona play him when he has proved he is up to speed then i could se him either goin to another sl team that will play him or goin to one of the top 2 teams and sitting on their bench insted.

Having thought about the Swain substitution, I think it was in fact a smart move by McRae, why I hear you cry? Well, if he doesn't fancy Turner to be a loose forward or doesn't feel he’ll make his 17 most weeks then he needs to find a back up to Swain and what better opportunity to try someone out than when you're 20-nil up at home? It may have shown McRae that it's an issue that'll need reassessing and maybe he may need to bring Turner in. I doubt at any other time Swain would be brought off, he looks like an 80 minute man to me and I doubt greatly he'll get brought off too much this season.

Just a thought.

You may well be right. I know that some players are better defensively than others and in an ideal world substitutions wouldn't upset the balance too much, just seemed obvious that the defence really struggled as a result of so many subs being made in such a quick space of time. I'm not saying slow down the rotation of subs or anything, just think they need spacing out with a little bit more thought so there isn't too much disruption to the team (injuries permitting etc...)
Also thought Swain had a good game on Saturday and looks to have a good engine. Feel a little bit for Turner given how solid he was last season but it's nice that McRae has these kind of selection headaches.

Paul of Ratchford on for me and that will do,

like i said in post about the match against celtic, Nash needs super league game time , and he will come good, no good droping him the res team if he is going to be brought in now and again, he will not improve that way,

shud be a win for us but its gonna a close game


cum on you reds

update for ya same team has last week

Ta M8. Your info was good last week.
I'm gutted for Rachford tho but i guess we shouldn't expect a coach to change a winning team!

I wouldn't change a winning team unless you know for definite that you can strengthen it. I really rate Ratchford (as well as Sidlow, Turner and one or two other youngsters) but he has never had the opportunity toprove himself at this level.

No-one last week played badly enough to deserve being dropped, especially as it was our first game back. We need stability and consistency if we're going to make it in this league, and chopping and changing the team won't help us to achieve that.

If (and it's still a big if) Ratchford et al are to make it at this level they will need to show they have the right attitude, as well as the skills. A bit part of that attitude is patience and realising that, if they bide their time, their chance will come. Throwing youngsters in too early could ruin them.

In the Walrus I trust!