Was working yesterday and didn’t get a chance to see the game. Whilst it’s inderstandable that the execution in attack isn’t quite there yet, how are we shaping up defensively? Are the quotes from Price accurate, and did we look to have more resilience when the chips were down? Or were Salford unlucky to lose?

Salford made 3 unforced errors early on that were all walk in trys. A bit worrying there.

As the game went on they fell behind the Warrington superior fitness and looked easy second best.

The difference between the two...Wire have bags of scope for improvement in all areas. Salford don't.
The next time these two meet up, Wire would likely thrash them.

Good to know we look like we have potential.

Last year the Huddersfield game gave an early indication of our lack of bite and we looked like mentally the grand final loss had put us in a state of resignation.

I hope this fresh start had us looking very different even if we don’t look the finished article yet.

There try would not have happened had K.Brown not been ball watching, other than that solid in defence. A fair bit to work on in attack and other players still to come into the team,overall not bad.

Lots of improvement needed going forward although BMM will create chaos - others just need to back him up. When Roberts plays and Goodwin is at centre we'll be better in that area. Defence was fairly strong but as others have said, our pack were second best when Salford had their big men on. Akauola and Crosby will help there. Mitch Brown worked really hard and was excellent in defence. Not a world beater but solid enough. I thought Jack Johnson was good and would have no concerns with him covering full back if needed this year. Dearly Clark had a very good second half.

Double post

The main thing that stood out for me was our fitness.... at no point were any of our players stood with hands on knees!

It was also good to see us get pinged for offside a few times, because we were keen to move up quickly rather than waiting for the opposition to run as it. Just need to improve the timing.

Attacking structures need improvement, but that is expected at this point with all the new faces (players and coaches)

Sounds more encouraging than last year then. The Hudds friendly and the first game at Cats - I just knew we were in for a long season despite the victory against the Broncos... something didn't seem right, as if the Grand Final loss had destroyed any spirit within the camp.

I think as well as things getting stale, and poor signings, squad quality depletion, the belief went. When a group fails 3 times in the Grand Final after all the hard work of getting there, it's got to take it's toll psychologically.

If Price can just get us to be serially competitive each week and difficult to score against then that is a start. We need to hate losing. No more "bit flat" excuses.

Hadn't Wigan just lost back to back Grand Finals before they beat us in 2016?

Most of our players in 2016 were not involved in the earlier Grand Final defeats, it was only Hill, Ratchford and Atkins.

I think there is a difference. For Wigan winning the GF is nothing new. It's been done before and will be done again and they had just won it in 2013 before winning it again in 2016. Their squad will have no doubts it can be done and what is needed to do it.

On the other hand our squad had no SL winning experience in it, the monkey on their back of 60+ years of not winning and Tony was staring down the barrel of 3 defeats with the group.

Plus I never said it was the only reason for an abject 2017.

Would like to see us run the ball on the last tackle a bit more often instead of kicking it all the time

I think we’ll see a lot of structured “5 drives and a kick” stuff until we start to gel a bit, and until the ground dries up a bit and we get to see Roberts’ and his footwork.

The game looked structured for sure, but not in attack (as yet) but in defence.

We seem to be trying to operate with a kind of block zone defence, where players work in a combination to defend an area, a bit like a gridiron defence.

We will seldom see any players shoot out of the defensive line to nail a player.
Probably an end to the charge down unless the ball is kicked at us.
An end or player limitation on a sliding defence.
Probably only the fullback dropping back for a kick on the last play while the wingers may have to remain in their zone.
A more even share of tackles between the players. Certain zones may aquire more attention than others but generally similar across the zones.

Pretty much how the NRL do it... however it does snuff out the game flow and makes it low scoring. So long as only we play this ploy it should be alright to watch for sometime, until the other teams start to do similar.

Hallelujah! Putting pressure on the kicker is one thing, but I can count on one hand the number of times a chargedown has paid off for us. We usually end up giving away a free repeat set.



I'd take that over the turgid cluelessness we've had recently any day. Hopefully that gives the platform for the brighter players to be able to create some magic moments around that.

Another upshot I guess would be it being easier to bring though the youngsters. Slotting into a club-wide structure and playing style you're used to is far easier than being thrown into a very heavy "off the cuff" dissorganised mess and being expected to perform.

Off the cuff and disorganised sounds like the last 4 years.

I would like to see an element of doubt put into the defence. Little chips over the top behind the defensive line and from 40m out instead of the hail mary. A set attack down the blindside where a late runner makes an overlap. Something creative which gets the crowd on their feet.

What is this shooting out of the line and nailing a player you refer to. I have seen plenty of shooting out of the line followed by the opposition going in at the corner....Not a nailed player lying anywhere!!

I’d take steady predictable rugby any day if it leads to a first championship in 60 years...

However, I don’t expect us to be that boring with Roberts in the side. Based on his highlights on YouTube he can do the off the cuff stuff when it’s needed without the undue risk. Brown can do the positional kicking and keep the team in check.

How about a variation on the usual kick to the corner for the winger? The old fashioned up n under to the posts should be brought back where more players are available to attack the line.

....and we might never see that either.

Here here to that

Usually I would disagree with this, but with our current wingers they are no more specialist at catching kicks than anyone else. And at worst, you get a good chance to smash the fullback, which for Barba/Tomkins etc could take something away from them in attack.

When you have a Monaghan/King it’s right to kick to them, when you’ve got Matty Magoo Russell there’s little point kicking it to him.

I've seen lineham and Atkins out jump defences over and over.
Atkins looks to be returning to the right wing, I don't think he ever played there since at Wire.
So two good in the air on either flank.

returning?