Perhaps so, but I don’t think Harris would have been too concerned about individual performances. As of this season, there will be very limited opportunities to give players from the U19’s first team experience due to the importance of every single league game (due to promotion/relegation). As a big advocate of youth himself, IH and the coaching staff obviously felt yesterday was the perfect opportunity to provide those players with such experience.

If we have an injury crisis and one or two of those lads who played yesterday are needed to be called upon in a Super League game, the benefit of yesterday will be a big bonus to them.

Accept your point;

On a positive note, it was a forward battle. I thought Menzies and Forster did well and will have put themselves in Harris' thoughts. Hood had some moments with the ball. Gee fronted up well and Lannon looked dangerous. All young so things maybe not as bad they could be..

I do feel he could of blooded the youngsters in half yesterday and half next week. A mixture of youth and experience but i guess Harris knows better then myself!

I'm hoping Files gets more of a crack next week as 10 mins at the end was not enough for me!

I agree, certainly wasn’t as bad as the score line suggested. Errors and individual mistakes were disappointing but given the conditions and experience forgivable.

I said in another thread that I expect Forster and Menzies to surprise a few people this season, I think both will play more than they sit-out.

He was the biggest diapoointment to me. Didnt look right at all. I said to my dad that he looks like he was playing with a minor injury but now i think about it I cant see why he would be in a pre-season friendly. Probably just out of shape and not fully fit.

Dewsbury had debutants aswell and they had some of their young lads playing. We still should have won. I agree that its not the end of the world, but the attitude of our pack was disappointing. I thought Hock did try actually (although he made quite a few errors), it was our other forwards who disappointed.

Fair amount of effort put in by the younger lads , but there was a serious size mismatch - notably lumbering Carl Price opposite a skinny Connor McGrath.
Dewsbury played their 1st choice side & played style to suit their particular pitch conditions:-a Cow trodden short & narrow pitch.
It would be silly to draw any conclusions from the game other than it was 80 minutes game time.
Some comments that some of the players weren't putting the effort in are wide of the mark there were some committed performances put in from the U19 lads having to put a heavy tackling stint in on the back of a lop-sided penalty count & losing Adam Walne to a red Card 15 minutes from the end, for a high tackle on Rob Spicer.
Brad England took his try well , and we had two tries struck off ( A grubber try from Liam Hood for offside & a try from Brad England from a miss -out pass from Hock ).
better conditions & a firmer pitch might have made a closer match up.

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

What's the significance of that, then?

As for the game, I didn't see a lack of effort, I saw an inexperienced side that looked cold and rusty make a number of mistakes in dreadful conditions. Not really worth the upset, nor the major tactical analysis we're getting from some quarters.

And, as I said on the other thread, it was a pre-season friendly and I know a few who looked forward to seeing players you wouldn't normally expect to see. To get wound up because you've not seen a full strength squad in a friendly is a bit much.

I was more concerned that there were only two pubs left open in the centre of Dewsbury. Used to be a good drink around there. Someone claimed it was because everyone now walks into Batley for their evening's entertainment - think what you like about that one!

Oh, and their scoreboard is better than ours...

For what it's worth, I thought the game would have helped the lads who played yesterday - but it didn't do much for me, standing behind the sticks with a strong wind in our faces staring into the gloom created by two floodlight not working!!

On a serious note, it was a matter of concern to see us giving away so many penalties. If reports are to be believed referees will be using the Sin Bin much more this year and we can ill afford to risk going down to twelve men in such a competitive league.

It was a poor performance and a poor game all round yesterday, plus it was bloody freezing stood behind the sticks.

Dewsbury were a well organised team with a lot of super league experience, they probably had more super league experience that our squad did. Yesterday’s result will not have any bearing on the season ahead, I don’t think anyone particularly impressed, but the young lad on wing Conner McGrath tried hard. He got smashed a couple of times, but shown good pace to chase back another Dewsbury break. He also shown good feet by beating 3 or 4 players in the second half. Evalds made a couple of poor errors, but was still our most dangerous player going forward, he’s the only one who looked like breaking the line. Menzies and Foster both looked like they could do a job, but Taylor looked unfit to me (I suppose that’s to be expected).

I just hope we go out and do a decent job on Swinton now.

Taylor looked ultra fit when he was at Wigan. Has he had an operation and missed a lot of pre-season training? Or do you think he's lost some sharpness because he joined us?

I think it was down to covering more work than he would normally do with inexperienced players playing around him.

I think Taylor will go well this season, whenever i've seen him for Wigan or Hull KR i've been very impressed!

League Weekly gave him an 8/10.

I'm guessing the league weekly reporter was sat somewhere warm he can't have been watching the match !

To be fair he did alright in the second half and started to make some good yards and put some hits in, however in the first 20 minutes he looked out on his feet, there was one point when he was down on his knees taking a breather. 8/10 for anyone in the team seems a bit OTT though.

I doubt Taylor is struggling for fitness as he's been at the club almost 3 months with very little down time.

I'd guess it was more a case of cobwebs getting blown out.

Performances in pre-season games can be deceptive. Anyone remember Howarth’s stormer at Warrington last season? It even earnt him a place in the squad vs Wakefield on the opening game and we all know how his performances went.

Does anyone think Harris has written off the Warrington game as such and will instead, in his mind set see it as a final intense ‘friendly’ before the first home game v St Helens? Obviously if we won, bonus/fantastic – but with us only potentially having 2 pre-season friendlies against a low standard of opposition it isn’t really what you would consider great preparation for a season opener away at Warrington. In contrast, two friendlies against lower opposition and an away game at Warrington is ideal preparation for an opening home game v St Helens.

Maybe I am reading into it too much, but perhaps the difficult start and likelihood of picking up maximum points has helped shape his pre-season plans.

No he won't have written off the Warrington game. He may save some of the older props for Saints game but he certainly will not write it off. I believe the first few games of the season are the best time to play the bigger teams as you can catch them cold!

I agree particularly with both Warrington and St Helens having their eye on the World Club Championships a week or two later. Just seems odd preparation to play only the two friendlies against Swinton and Hunslet, most clubs have at least one Super League opponent. Proof will be in the pudding I guess!

Whether we, (Warrington) are classed as a bigger club now I don't know, but, I think an opening game is a good time to play us as recently we seem to have started slowly. It should be a belter and I don't know what he 'odds' are, but, suspect it would be close?

The only odds I've seen are from BetFred and they've made Warrington firm favourites to win.

Salford are +12 on the handicap and 5/2 in the 80 minute betting.

I expect Warrington to be favourites that i have no doubt but from the first 2 games Warrington & Saints i would be happy to run the 2 sides close although a win from 1 of these 2 games would be nice! More realistically i see this against Saints but you never know.

I'm not overly fussed with the results of the first five or six games tbh. Historically, it's better to gain momentum at the halfway point towards the end of the season. Anything we get out of those first six is a bonus, and I'd like us to be strong at home. The biggest hurdle to getting in the crowds at home has been our wobbly record. If we can sort that this season we'll be on our way.