Shelford is a much better players than we saw, he simply wasn't fit enough to contribute, so I didn't really wan't to comment. I have said before that I don't think Kibula ( 21) is SL standard. He is not aggressive enough and only makes ground on his size /bulk alone. His size can also leave him flat footed in defence. Brand is a bit of an enigma. At times he looks a good player with a step and decent speed to break the line but then he makes poor decisions and or lets himself down in defence. Considering he is 21 and has had a year with Widnes already, I would have expected to have seen a bit more from him.

I guess I am not keen on criticising the younger players as they are still developing and learning. I think they need every bit of encouragement they can get as it's a massive jump to SL level.

For a team lacking game time & experience last night's performance should be beyond reproach. We were 4 forward passes away from victory, with 2 of our tries chalked off & a Salford try involving 2 forward passes allowed to stand. The Salford bigger & more experienced players did for us in the second half but what a great game the young lads gave us.

I don’t get why Patton didn’t organise a drop goal effort while we were still 6 ahead or even 12.
Other than that brain fart oversight, he played excellent.

I was surprised they didn't slot one in before half time tbh.

Doro for me looks far better and why would wigan let Kibula go if he had any real quality?

Hopefully there will be some tired salford legs out there Saturday, are we expecting an easy win? For me i think we will win but itll be close. They will throw everything at us.

We've lost our last four games against them. We badly underperformed in the three before last night and got outfought.

Price has got all the ammo he needs to guard against complacency. We should be fired up.

Kibula is very much like Karl Pryce, a big lad, loads of talent, quick for his size and good hands. However he lacks natural aggression. If Wane and Matty Peet can't get that from him then I doubt anyone can which is a shame as he does have the ability.

71 tackles is some going from walker, especially for his size, second highest in a game since 2003 when opta starts started, i wonder how many he missed.

Also, i wonder if thats an indicator that pricey told him to go all out, since he's not making the bench saturday? meaning that ashton takes the 4th bench spot.

Just one I believe.

Looking at the team numbers at least one of those who played last night will have to go again on Saturday. It could actually be Patton who can play as interchange dummy half and cover for half back.

Alternatively, looking at the weather for Saturday, he may want to go with another forward on the bench.

Agree about needing the extra forward given the wet weather forecast for Saturday.

Davis for me then,, as he can play hooker too.

They still have some learning to do, mainly for me Dean needs to learn to pass the ball and not be a glory hog, 2 certain tries missed out on because he refused to pass to someone else and instead wanted the glory for himself.

Getting back onside needs to be learnt as well, since they were nearly all offside all the time.

Other than those 2 things, they played really well considering most have not really had much game time if any.

Good signs of what is to come though.

I can't see us having both Ashton and Patton on the bench. Maybe Davis will back up?

Ratchford
Charnley
Gelling
King
Mamo
Austin
Widdop
Hill
Clark
Cooper
Currie
Hughes
Clark

BMM
Philbin
Davis
Ashton

I can't think of anyone else in the squad that didn't play last night. Davis put in 61 tackles in a typically hardworking performance, be a big ask for him to back up, but I guess he will be only needed for 20 mins tops assuming there are no injuries.

On the other hand neither O'Brien nor Patton have been effective when taking on the line, and it was low on Briers's priorities, too, in the later stages of his career. Nice to have a half with the confidence to do it.

I wondered why Dean didn't have a pop at one, and then got tackled on the last. That's not taking anything away from his very commendable performance.
As I posted earlier, there were opportunities for the win in that game. However, the boys did extremely well without getting any SL points to show for it.

Puts the criticism of his interference at the play the ball into perspective.

I said he played well but that was still dumb, it was also at a bad time and a bad place in the field to do it. Danny Houghton is a tackling machine, doesn't mean I rate him as a player.

Never a priority for Briers who played behind a dominant pack for most of the time and understandably vanished when he didn't. The right combination is the important thing in the halves. Be careful about criticising any halve playing to their strengths.

The trouble with many infringements at the tackle/play the ball is that too many ball carriers are being allowed to move forward off the mark with impunity. It is an offence to move off the mark. It is the same when a tackled player moves into a marker when regaining his/her feet in order to get a penalty.

I do like Walker. There is definitely something there. Always puts a shift in - impossible task playing behind the world's second best 9 every week. Loves the club too.

Yep - I agree with nearly all of that.

Tackled player moving off the mark has been a major bugbear of mine for years.

i've said this for a while now, up until they changed the ruling for players in the ruck last year, if you think about it, the ball carrier can do all manner of things, push, go limp, trap in, place the ball on people, push forward or or dive to the floor off the mark (see kevin naiqama), 9/10 they get a penalty, OR the ref balls at them, saying stop mucking about, it takes something very very specific and obvious for someone to be penalised when in posession.

Salford were "stealing yards" at every ptb in that second half. Trying to milk penalties at every opportunity, but not getting them, but still eeking 3 or 4 yards each time, as the tackled player got to his feet. Very sneaky

More fool us for not doing the same if the referee isn't going to penalise it like last night.

It is very frustrating when they're trying to clean up the ruck area that it's continually allowed to go on though I must admit. The other one that grinds my gears is the attacker playing the ball backwards and then walking forward to get in the defenders way. Both of these offences could be stopped really easily by the referee penalising the first of each offence and warning they will be penalised every time. If teams don't learn then they continually get punished.

Sean O’Loughlin has been stealing 5 yards at every ptb for years. Sometimes almost plays the ball from behind the markers. Must have a problem with his balance or something.......