71 mins

22-4

Rhys Evans

mom
Ratchford

attendance
11864

22-8

77 mins
try
Ben JonesBishop

22-8

full time

Salford looked best when Hock and Patterson were on being petulant. Salford really tried to get under Sims's skin. Do we think Bennie will get two games?

Penny was my man of the match. Barring that goof under the high ball, he was excellent in attack AND defence and saved two tries (that I saw).

Salford wasn't patient with the ball and forced passes.
When they played the six out they eventually created space out wide.
Dobson and Chase have a lot of scope for improvement.
Myler ran well off Ratchford when he pushed up.
GOB and Myler as a pairing still leaves questions unanswered imo.

Overall Warrington were a little fitter across the board and I think our fitness and rushed errors from Salford played a large part put into the result than a just a creative halfback combination.

Salford will beat plenty of teams this season. Loved that late reverse inside pass from Chase.

Agree on Penny, an excellent game in attack and defence. Read the game very well. One dropped ball was his only error.

Sims and Hill, great engines and size.

Laithwaite a tackling machine.

Great cameo from Wheeler.

Pretty decent kicking game from both halves.

Generally a professional performance after a shaky first 20.

Rusty but promising start is my verdict. Patterson had Sims' number all game and if teams are going to attack him like Salford did today then we need to think about having someone on his shoulder to offload to just before he hits the line, it'll cause a lot of holes. Good on Silverwood for using the yellow in the right circumstance with Benny, when I saw it I thought he was gone so I think he'll get a match or two.

Agree with SuperVegan about Penny, my man of the match also. His defence has come on leaps and bounds if he keeps it up, saved two certain tries and cut off Salfords attack more than once. Joel is still drifting in and leaving a good 10 metres space of free run for the opposing winger. Penny, Hill and Ratch were our top 3.

Penny will still get slated even though he put in a superb performance, and from looking at his actions on the pitch it means so much to him to be back and be given the chance by Smith to show what he can do.

Another decent attendance posted for a season open.

A good start by all so far

Who will slate penny?

He put claims in to me that he could play at fb.
His ball catching and ball return was more effective than what I seen last season from Russell.

Still the service from Atkins isn't great. Put Penny outside of Evans and Atkins either outside Joel or try him in the back row while Benny will face a match or two banned.

Penny was superb. Tackling machine.

Good win against a side who caused us a few problems and could have scored a few more. I thought the score flattered us a bit.
We didn't lose the ball much and made few mistakes ... which we did a lot last year. Clark pretty quiet and loved Penny. I thought half backs kicked OK, defended well and they've moved on a bit. Laithwaite and Curry looked up to it. Micky Higham was a busy boy and scored important close range try. Benny lucky not to get a red.

Almost forgot, big Roy put a decent shift in and was responsible for a fantastic hit resulting in in a knock on with Salford on our line.

Benny won't be playing against St George, let's put it that way.

I had a pretty poor view of it, what did he actually do?

Paterson had Simms number? How? He put some big hits in the first 20 but then he never took the ball in again just hitting gob and myler late, Ryan bailey got more guts than him, Salford did alright when they tried playing rugby and not trying decapitate players or start a fight after the tackle

Sorry garyhulsefan, you must have been the only one in the HJ that did'nt see it

Agree with above especially Penny. He was my mom. His defence was excellent and it'll be huge asset whenever opposing teams break through- he has the pace to catch them and muscle now to floor them. They were after simms and he did well not to react. Thought Harrison always seemed to make good yards and Benny second half when he was on.

Really positive start and it's the first game. Great attendance but I have to say that the salford fans completely out sung us. South stand was virtually silent.

Anyone else thought we looked better with Mickey Higham on instead of Clark?

Like Patrick Ah vans only worse.....

The only thing Patterson had today was permission from Silverwood to act like an A-hole without repercussion. I spotted at least 2 shoulder charges that were not even pulled up for a penalty and he was always niggling in the tackle but that's what happens when you are coached by Harris who has watched Wane's sheeeeitehouse tactics for the last few years.

That's a great result, today.
Superb from Ratchford. At times, he got some shocking passes given to him, yet still managed to stick his arm behind him, control the ball, and then give a great pass. Cleared his line well, and made some eyecatching breaks. A deserved MoM for me

WtF's going with our publicity/marketing department. I went to bed last night, and there was no breaking on the 'net. Woke up, and checked BBC Sports website, and nothing publicised. Played golf, came home and checked the net again. Still no mention. Go to the match, and we've got the new Eric Grothe on the wing. Our media department want sacking for not announcing this new appointment. Well played, Eric. At least I never came on these boards slagging you off. SUPERB.

Can Westwood be banned?. As far as I remember, the incident wasn't put on report, and was dealt with a yellow card. Can they punish him again? If they can, will Wigan's Smith get retrospective action for his petulance on Thursday? Wont be holding my breath, though.

Solid but not spectacular from Clark
Solid and some good offloads from Sims. He did well to hold his temper after obvious provocation.
Half decent from Asotasi.
Some strength at times from Atkins.
I'm a happy boy. So much better than this time last year

That Patterson geezer should concentrate on his own game, rather than trying to wind the world up. He showed some good touches down the centre. Was expecting a lot more from Dobson. Never seen a side drop as much ball in dry conditions as Salford did, today. Marwan would've been throwing cups in the dressing room, when he was doing his coach's summing up to his players.

I must admit, watching Patterson today I thought they'd signed Hock and his more stupid brother.

Kevin Penny, quality from Swinton Lions, what did you expect. Wish Kevin every success in SL.