I went today and need to congratulate the large following support fro the red faithful. Too be honest we were in the game for the first 20 mins or so and bombed a few chances. I would not be to dispondent and thought overall it was affair silt, don't forget we were playing Warrington away and not some numpty team from the lower leagues. I think we should of started with Dobson as although theo is a good player it needed experience as well as class out there today. The lads tried hard but hopefully come thursday we can get our season off with our first 2 points. Just one note Westwood should have been sent off completely for another cheap shot Dirty bar steward! Keep the faith and let's gt down in. Numbers on thursday

Above should read A fair result...apologies

Good performance especially first 20 minutes. We had more clean breaks than the Wire.No Locke, no Tasi - we can get better! Wire fans near me suggested we will surprise a few teams. Remember, Warrington are being tipped by some to win Super League. Harris must sort out the penalty count - if so we could give Saints a close game.

Very impressed with your team today. Very aggressive. If you can continue like that you will be in the top 8 for sure.

Great turnout from your species too. Good luck next week.

And again, well done chap......we will definately get better.

Keep playing like that and see how many of your players ain't banned, Paterson was awful with the late hits but I agree Westwood should've been sent off was a bad one, if u tried playing a bit more actual rugby and not get too hot headed you'll be dangerous and Dobson deffo gotta start gave your aggression a bit of direction, you won't be winning many matches giving away as many penalties as u did takes a lot of energy and giving plenty of free yards is not the best, your support was awesome tho so fair play to your fans

BLESS....I should hope so. Viv Nicholson would be proud of you lot.

Thought your support was strong today. You created a lot of chances but put down way too much ball, fix that and you'll be fine this season. Your aggression, bar a couple of stupid cheap shots from Patterson after the ball had gone, was up there. Benny was lucky not to see red in my opinion but I do think it was more a mis timed attempt at a big hit rather than malicious. Good luck for the season, until you come up against us again obviously.

Didn't a "numpty team from the lower division" spank you not that long ago? Typical SL supporters comment thinking rugby doesn't exist outside of SL.

Salford will be in the top 8 this season and probably the top 6. I was very impressed with the size of your support its the biggest I have seen at the HJ.

The quality of Locke, Hock, Harrison, Dobson, Chase & Hauraki will serve you well.
As I left the stadium yesterday I said to my mate I was glad we played you now instead of later in the season when your players will have gelled and you got a full team out.

Salford wont win SL but the top six and a Wembley appearance is well within your reach. A Salford V Wire Challenge Cup Final has a nice ring to it.

Good Luck for the rest of the season.

Overall not too disappointed and a few positives to take from the game. The difference between the teams for me was Warrington looked to have the slight edge in fitness. Frequently when we had possession it looked more like a recovery set with players bunched or slow to get back in position. Our defense was good but we looked too flat when we had the ball. I just think Warrington are more seasoned at playing at a higher intensity and it started to show after the first 20 minutes.

WE might have the big pack but we don't have the tactics that will allow them to go forward, a simple drop off pass on the inside didn't work yesterday and it appears that's all we had.

MCB, Johnson and Evalds have all put some considerable timber on and in Evalds case it appears too have slowed him down.

Very pleased with the overall effort and still think we will win more than we lose, I just think we need a more skillful approach than the drop off pass on the inside.

Have read some comments on Twitter saying 'same old Salford' - easy, lazy criticism. That was a promising performance yesterday. Against half the division, that first 20 minutes would have put us three scores up and virtually out of sight. You only have to visit the Warrington board to see how their fans saw it - basic consensus is that whilst they deserved to win, the score line possibly flattered them. The difference I felt was that they showed more composure and took their chances.

We will win plenty this year and upset some of the established, don't worry about that. Defence at times was outstanding and some great hits on one of the best packs in the league. Special mentions for Paterson, Dobson and Evalds, who, apart from a knock on when attacking in the second half, did not put a foot wrong.

Would hope we will look to shift the ball wide more though - the inside pass was over used and we have pace to burn in the three quarters and wings.

Forgot to mention but what a game Evalds had, there has too be a place in the 17 for him, he's much too talented to be a bit part player.

Quite happy with what I saw yesterday really given we are playing against an established unit that will be challenging for all the honours. Thought we were too disorganised with Chase in charge and over structured and cautious with Dobson running the team - we need to find a happy medium. BJB looked class - in the right place at the right time every time. Evalds had a great game overall, whether or not it's perception rather than reality though I think Locke would have had the speed to convert that break in the first half. Well done to whoever it was that didn't react to Hill trying to create a sin binning after Westwood went off (Walne?).

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Evalds has the potential to be something special, he was outstanding on Saturday and there needs to be a place for him in the starting 13 every week. It’s looking like Locke will be very injury prone so it’s nice to have someone like Evalds who can slot in at fullback.

I though Paterson went really well as well. The Hull KR fans were telling us that he couldn’t defend, try telling Sims that. What was evident about Saturdays game was our need for a quality 9, there were times when our pack were making good meters and getting a quick play the ball leaving one sometimes both markers still on the floor, yet Lee only seems to take couple of steps then offload it. I’m still not sure about Hauraki, but it’s only one game. Ben Jones-Bishop will score a load on the wing if he stays fit, I think Sa’u will come in for Caton-Brown when he’s fit. Chase and Dobson will only get better, they both showed some nice touches especially in the second half.

All in all it was really good game of rugby league for the first game of the season, the intensity was there right from kick off and the game will only benefit us. Our players now know where they need to be. We can’t afford to go on any long losing streaks like we usually do, with Saints, Hull and Catalan coming up next it doesn’t get any easier and it could easily be 4 loses to start the season. Having said that I’m quietly confident that we can get a positive result against Saints on Thursday.

not particularly fast though, currie chased him down on that clean break and he had a good start on him.

11 penalties means, possibly 55 extra tackles plus us not having the ball.
Adam Walne needs to get his high tackling in check. red and yellow cards already, do we need to farm him out to a championship club to work on his technique ?

Walne does look go be a penalty machine. Id look at getting tasi back in and playing hock at second row

I'll take Salford to beat Saints this week and a top 5 finish

i have to ask, as it was apparent at the time, and tony smith has mentioned it post match and its in League express today as well.

Whats going on with Salford using the cannonball tackle ala wigan. There were a couple of awkward looking challenges where our players went flying, one in particular i think was haurauki who came in completely needlessly, from the side at the standing knee of ben currie, who was about to be released to play the ball. I know there were handbags between our forwards, that happens, but this is something thats not nice to see at all.

I don't recall you using that last year, I hope it was a one off and Iestyn hasn't decided thats the way forward for you.

I have to be honest and say I mentioned that during the game, a bit of niggle is okay but a cannonball tackle is designed too injure a player. You'd hope it was a case of it being mistimed but if it is a deliberate play I'd prefer not too see Salford use it.

I don't think there's any deliberate attempt or design to injure players. Harris has spent a lot of time with the players over the winter on wrestling techniques to try and slow down the opposition play the ball speed. That's something we've needed because too often in the past we have leg them dictate the pace.

I did see a couple of times a third player join the tackle while they ball carrier was still standing but before they were called held. I was a bit concerned about them, mainly as the Warrington fans shouted for it each time so heightened my awareness of them. They generally looked to be around the waist or a little lower to me, not near the knee, but I would like to see them again (I spotted it 2 or 3 times) to have a look at what was going on and which players were doing it (was it new ones who brought it with them for example?)

I think it's illegal now and nothing was done about it by the ref, if there was anything untoward I'm sure the disciplinary panel will pick it up. There's a fine line between using a third man legitimately to make sure the attacker hits the deck and is slowed down and an illegal one for being late or dangerous. Most teams use a third man and have for some time, it's where and when they hit that counts.

In general I was pleased with the way we controlled warrington's speed of playing the ball in perfectly legitimate ways (winning the collision as Paul Cullen would put it). Warrington are very hard to stop if you let them stay on their feet or let them up too quickly. There were some brutal but fair shots by Salford defenders that was great to see. That said we still struggled at times to control them which is testament to how good Warrington are and I think led to many of the penalties we gave away (defenders not being set so making clumsy/desperate tackles). Some were just plain lazy or malicious though I suspect!

It reminded me a bit of how the intensity in defence went up when Karl Harrison joined us back in the day. Was interesting to hear. Alan Hunte on devil in the detail reflect on how KH brought the latest techniques with him from Bradford and remember Rhino saying at the time how far behind Salford were compared to top teams and how much he changed. Unfortunately he wasn't given the time or the resources to make a long lasting difference and the coaches that followed didn't have the wherewithal or the resources to build on it.

After Harrison I think Wilkinson hoped buying the right players would be enough and it was never going yo be (esp on the budget he could afford). I think Koukash was clear from when he arrived that off the field was as important as the players and he's invested in back room staff and equipment in line with what the top teams do

I certainly don't think players have been told or coached to 'cannonball' or attack the knee. Like previous posters have said already, Harris has been working hard on aggressive defense and slowing the opposition. I think the problem with late hits like this is due to a number of factors. The referee allowing slightly too much time before calling held, fatigue, and game rustiness. It all adds up to things going awry and I think this is the reason we're seeing it at the moment. Give it a few games where players are up to speed with the game and fitness, and Refs have settled down after being rusty and they'll probably dry up altogether.