Everyone likes a good sing along

[iThe fans could make special requests before the match.[/i



Drop it like its hot - Snoopdogg

Try,Try, Try - Julian Cope

Knock On Wood - Amii Stewart

Doctor Doctor - Thompson Twins

You win again - Bee Gees

Apologies for the delay in replying
no I do not think we can get what we want
1. There was an interview with Noble in (from memory) the Independent where he stated he and the Doc had expressly chosen players who "had something to prove"; they chose half of all interviewed. So he avoided thi=ose coming to Salford for the pay cheque only. So we cannot doubt that the choices made fitted with the idea of who would improve Salford. Your post suggests it has not worked as well as expected: so would another similar exercise produce anything very different?
2. There are only so many players available: many do not want to move, many would not want to travel to Salford (we lost a good winger recently and that was one reason given to me) etc. So the choices are few. Some will note we will release several players at the end of this season and decide being in a safer environment suits them. Small number of choices + owner with big cheque book looking at market = inflated prices and a high chance of getting the "mercenary" player we do not want.
3. If Harris is right (I suggest he believes his perception) and the culture is wrong: two points:
a) wouldn't it be better to remove it before bringing in players who will be infected by it. That's the priority.
b) where has it come from? A serious question as any manager who was perceived by a business owner of allowing a negative environment to flourish would be pulled up very quickly. So why has it been identified only now?

Quality.

Harris is saying what any of us would say,subtly blaming the previous regime.
Fair enough.
I have no problem with Harris but lets not forget he has also inherited some very good players,although not all of them can sing.
We need to see improvement and better results .I agree he should be given strong support .
Surely,elite coaching is to improve what already existed

What about adding

Fumble by Trey Songz.

Or especially for the back line.

So Slow by Freestyle.

Slow Hand by Conway Twitty would be quite apt by the start of season we've had!!!!!!

As much as I see the current crop collectively improving as the season unfolds, I still believe Harris will want to attract new players to the club over the winter. Every team in SL usually makes in the region 5/6 changes in personell and I wouldn't expect Salford to make any fewer. I would find it very hard to accept if Harris and the Doc couldn't attract players to the club who would strengthen the team.

I fully understand the point you make about it being difficult to attract the players because it's been an obstacle and hinderence Salford have had to work around for many years. Although I believe we now have an enhanced profile with our stadium and the quality of some of the players we now have. Surely this will make it a little easier to attract a different quality of player to what we have been accustomed to in the past.

Excuse for asking but am I missing something here. Didn't the Good Doctor already assemble a squad of players that he himself considered to be good enough to finish top 4 this season?

I think the phrase is he was given a bum steer.

In fairness I think Noble also made decent signings.

For him to get every signing right would have been near impossible considering he signed 14 new players. His biggest mistakes was failing to identify that he needed a goal kicker and an obvious lack of pace in the backs. I think Noble's style from his bulls background has always been about size and power over pace. It's still very much a work in progress and I'm fully expecting us to improve over the coming weeks.

What is absolutely vital now is that we start to improve and gain some momentum to take into 2015.

Oh yeah as I do think in Tasi and S'au we have a couple of the best imports we've seen play for Salford, I think a big miss from Noble was that the aging Gleeson would need replacing and to also bring in a player around the same age in Meli was never going to work. He'd have been much better spending the money Meli is on (I've been told what he's on and the mind boggles) bringing in a couple of hungry young backs eager to make a name for themselves.

The pace (or lack of) this season is obvious but 2015 for me could be.
Locke/Mullaney.
Johnson.

S'au.
Dixon.

Depending who gets the second centre spot that back line as power and pace aplenty.

If Sa'u could find another couple of yards he'd be brilliant for us but he's too slow to play centre for me. As Red John commented recently, he looked like Eric Pickles chasing a Pizza delivery bike at Leeds over Easter.

It's nothing personal, Junior comes across to me as a really top bloke.

have to disagree: I think his power is causing gaps that an astute winger could exploit
Imagine Broughton outside him to hit some of the holes he punched through in both Widnes games so far this year.

Couldn't agree more (sorry same old record from me) but can you imagine the tries Dixon could score when S'au is scattering defenders and passing to someone with frightening pace. A dream ticket would have been to prize Carney away from Cas but find it highly unlikely he'd A be available or B go anywhere else but the NRL.

If we're looking for speedy backs and a quality kicker we could do much worse than have a look at josh Mantellato, not getting much first grade with Newcastle at the moment but when I've seen him looks a cracking prospect who possibly if we are going to release players you could get in this season and he would eat a massive amount of the cap up either.

I think you have to look beyond a few powerful tackle busts and understand that teams are targeting and exploiting our lack of speed out wide.

I think the speed out wide is an issue, but it only becomes an issue in broken play. I'm also wondering how much the lack of speed is to do with a general lack of fitness in the three-quarter line. Of course, Sau or Gleeson when super fit are not going to be speedsters, but the I can't help feel that the broken play problem is more down to guys being knackered first and foremost. Sau certainly offers more than Gleeson at the moment with sheer power and go forward. Something that Gleeson had in his youth but has lacked for a while. Meli is no speedster either, and looks lazy as anything but he scores tries for fun because he's big and powerful. It's a balancing game, for sure, but I would suggest that simply replacing these players with all out speedsters may not be the answer either, rather a balance is probably required with a big improvement in fitness.

I agree with a lot you are saying Butcher but is it age or fitness with some players? Let's not forget the club brought in two highly qualified strength and conditioning coaches from Leeds and Huddersfield.

Perhaps some battle weary senior players are as physically fit as they can be considering they are in their twilight years. I think the pace issue problem is compounded because there is lack of it on both the right and left, plus Johnson is injured as we know.

See your point, but I think Sau could be given a break. It's his first season with us, his off season was disrupted through his wife being pregnant and he didn't play much first grade last season. He's shown plenty of promise thus far, and I think with a better preseason he'll become the complete package next year. Like others have said, he needs a better/younger/faster winger outside him.

Maybe everyone did get carried away with our expectations for this season, but the only players who would really seem to be poor signings are Puletua and Meli. Chucking money at ageing players was proven to be big mistake when we resigned Naylor back in 2004. The likes of Mullaney, Tasi, Walton and Johnson were the type of player we should have been looking to recruit more of. I'm glad Meli will be gone at the end of the season, let's hope Puletua will do the right thing and move on. That said he's a luxury player, who will come alive when we're on top, if we ever get the better, of the oppositions pack.

You could quite possibly be right.

Age is a factor, especially with backs. Not so much with forwards.

Why not give S'au a game at loose forward to see how he goes?

That would be a bad move, we're already lacking in class/pace in the backs so to remove one of the few who is effective would be a bad call for me, also as I've said elsewhere the issue at lose forward this year is the constant chopping and changing, it's an important position where you need some form of cohesion so pick one and stick with him.

Agreed, we have no one to replace Sau with in the centres? As for the loose forward position, when Walton gets back to fitness he would be my choice. He's not an out and out centre but he has a cracking running game, and if we use Mullaney as our third pivot I don't think it's essential to have an extra ball player in the pack.

Apparently you are looking to sign Josh Hodgson from us. I know this comes from The Sun but you never know.