What makes you say that? What 'second rate Aussies' do we have this season?

Cue anti-Jeremy Smith brigade...

Only listened on radio, but Swain, Cashmere and Henry all featured prominently in first half.
Far better than our usual crop

That's kinds what I was thinking.

I know Jeremy Smith isn't widely popular (although neither is he an Aussie) but our other imports are as good a crop of foreigners as I can remember.

I feel that Cashmere, Swain, Henry, Wilshere, Stapleton and even Robbie Paul have all done reasonably well this season, and that our 'NRL Retirement Home' status may be under jeopardy?!

I dont think replacing mcrae is the answer, our hot and cold performances are down to individual players and their attitude.

I think his team selections are weird at times, he'll play percentage rugby league to win ugly at all costs i think ratchford and fitzpatrick should play a more active role but what he has achieved so far you cant argue with, won all the cups last year, got us promoted, beat leeds and hull away, his imports have been a success in my opinion, the only difference between him and harrison is harrison got a top 6 finish with players who were at the peak of their powers at the time played for each other and for him.

Mcrae has had to invest in youth more, this is where our strengh lyes, hopefuly another offseason we can move on some of our yesterdays heros and the club and team can move on.

IF (which I doubt) SM does go if we don't give it to Alane Hunte then there is something seriously wrong with the decision makers at the club. Not only has Hunty identified young talnted players from other teams to bring in but also nurtured our own.

A question that I think is petrtinant is if we still had Rhino in charge and the three year stability do we all think that the club would move forward? I personally do, I think Harrison would have more of a three year plan we appear to do at the moment and that he would have done more to keep the youngesters who are rumoured to be leaveing to stay with the club (being an EX GB player and international coach we would be able to instill that being a big fish in a little pond is better for them and thier development).

For me I think SM will be tied down by a very complicated contract that the club wouldnt have a chance of getting out of without a massive payments being due.

The way forward is for the Simms to go at the end of the season, SM to get his job with Hunte takeing over as head coach, Naylor taking Huntes job and Robbie Paul hanging up his boots at the end of the season and joining the backroom staff in a blanket capacity. i can see that SM would have greater succsess than Simms in attracting better quality players from the Southern Hemisphere as he is more identifiable following his coaching down there.

Would have him back at the KC stadium tomorrow, recently watched a dvd of the 2003 season we were superb to watch, since he left we have won the challenge cup and been to the grand final, but it was the foundations he laid for the success we have had.
We had Jason Smith, Steve Prescott, Richie Barnett snr, Colin Best to name a few, exciting players, from the day Mcrae left the quality has gone down to were we are now at rock bottom of the entertaining game.
Plus he brought through horney,judas and yeamon hopefully he can do the same for your youngsters

Well we have had 2 and a bit years of utter boredom so he has obviously forgot what he did at Hull.
The youngsters have been brought on my Alan Hunt.
McRae puts the best young players we have in the wrong positions and drops them for no apparent reason bringing in his favourites.
You are welcome to him.

Yep, good idea.
Change the Coach as often as you like, then slag the next one off !
Amazing.

Agar has taken boredom to a level i did not know existed, against Celtic 2 weeks ago it was 5 drives kick straight to there full back or winger, at least against hkr we showed some passion and moved the ball around

Boredom ...
i wasn't bored on Sunday but aghast
I wasn't bored at Leeds, Huddersfield nor at the Willows against Saints but jubilent.

I realise it needs reiteration : we have a young pack.

3 games where we gave some entertainment.
If you are happy with that then so be it.
In our pack we have 3 experienced ARL players,a player who as been at the club 10 years,another player who has been around for arond 10 years and then two young players who have come through these past two years.
How can this pack be called young ?

There are some muppets on this forum. When harrison was coach we were poor! Same rubbish results, pull a good one out of the bag then lose 3 or 4 on the bounce. Yes we had one good season when we made the playoffs but we were still a poor team. Now Mcrae is coach it's the same old stuff happening again. We've beat leeds, saints, bradford, wire, hull, hudds and celtic so far this season. But apart from easter, we've won a game then lost a few on the bounce again. So is it the coach or the players? you cant polish a turd.

Salford and Hull both have poor reputations for places to live, dont know Salford to much but possibly like Hull it is exaggerated and undeserved.
Which makes it difficult for coaches to attract the best players, Hull City are having massive problems trying to recruit for next season.
So Mcrae maybe needs more time to bring youth through and build your reputation up in AUS/NZ because he certainly brought some quality over for us, but he had to rid the club first of some bad apples first.

There seems to be a lot of very blinkered folk on here with regards to what is going on at this club. McRae needs to go, it's as simple as that. Failing that, he needs a swift kick up the rear by the chairman to get his act together. He has lost most of the dressing room already. He turns up late for training. When he does turn up he has Scott Naylor and Andy Haigh conducting the training sessions while he stands around doing very little. Richie Myler would possbily stay if it wasn't for him being here. His only desire to leave is because he's learning nothing from McRae, and can't afford to waste the next 2 and a half years under a coach who gives him nothing. Apart from that, he likes the club. Jordan Turner is the same. He's sick of McRae too. There are other players in the team who want to leave, just because of him, and these are players that we would like to keep hold of, not the deadwood in the team who we are happy to see the back of. If anybody on here knows any of the the players on a level that they can talk and get honest answers, then ask them whether I'm right or wrong. I'll bet you a pound to a penny that they are in full agreement with everything I say.

Even Man United have trouble getting players to come to Manchester


It is nothing to do with the area in the modern game,it is all down to money.
You still have a few players who will stay loyal to their club, we have just had one of our best prospects Luke Adamson sign up for us and I hope we get a lot more of our young players on long contracts.
Problem is at Salford we just never have the money to bring in players who will ignite the team and take us that extra step.
Once that happens then you start to win things and that brings in revenue which means you can get the players you want.
It also helps to have a coach who does not preach percentage rugby.

Dogpie - you speak as though you have some inside knowledge - do you really or is this just "your opinion"?

The "lost the dressing room" line is one which seems to reoccur again and again at Salford - I remember exactly the same being said over Karl Harrison, then the fiasco over sacking Naylor then reinstating him - I've no idea what is actually going on, but just observing from the terraces it doesn't seem to be the happiest of camps?

We have had more turds here than Davyhume sewerage plant

:39b4mnx6

:39b4mnx6IF::39b4mnx6Dogpie is speaking with some inside knowledge (and it sounds very feasible) then the overall picture is indeed alarming. It's also got to run its co as there is little we as fans can do about it.

I must admit I was "in the know" many years ago at the club as I had some close friends (and relatives) involved behind the scenes.

To be honest: far from feeling in a priviliged position it was for the fan in me, very disappointing. Even to the point where I actually refused to go and watch.

My wife still went, so it actually caused a wee bit of friction within our family.

As I have said, If Dogpie is speaking with genuine insider knowledge and things are as fraught as appears, then things will certainly come to a head eventually.

When a coach "loses" the dressing room or part of it, there really isn't a way forward.

I had wondered earlier on in the season whem Malc Alker was stripped of the Captaincy and NOTHING became public (not really possible in the long term) and then Malc was reinstated

Over the years I've seen many coaches come and go at Salford and I've also heard the phrase 'one man rugby' more times than I care to remember. Every coach we have gets rubbished by the majority of the fans eventually which always leads to putting pressure on the board to sack them. Then there are the players who aren't behind the door at deflecting critisim towards the coach when things are going badly on the pitch. It's a 2-3 year cycle!

The simple fact is the club have been financially handicapped since the mid to late 70's and are only able to compete at either the bottom end of the top division or the top of the next league down.

You just have to be realistic and understand that Salford's inability to compete at the very top isn't purely down to individual(s) at the club.

What this club needs to elevate it to the next level and stay there is a lot more money. In all fairness to the Chairman and the Directors they have been as generous as they can afford to be over the years but it's not enough to get us to the top.

This club desperately needs more wealthy individuals supporting it to the tune of about 500K every year to seriously challenge for major honours. The problem is these people don't exist so our only hope is for one or two to come along in the future.

Good post fella, a lot of common sense in there.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/salford/8173959.stmCoincidence?[/url

OUCH!

MCrae can be assertive but not aggressive - what defamatory comments have been made by people who it is worth sueing? Most of the unacceptable postings on here are from those (to use a legal cliche) "made of straw".

If this is more than a journo's hype, then it may be that DogPie may have some form of credence. However, DogPie, you need to support these allegations with sources or proof.

Remeber it is easier for a person to complain than praise so whinges from any player needs to be taken with care - is it sounding off or symptomatic of a malaise?

So it was you who upset him...bless.