Wire squad: Matty Ashton, Joe Bullock, Daryl Clark, Ben Currie, Jack Darbyshire, Josh Drinkwater, Matt Dufty, James Harrison, Leon Hayes, Adam Holroyd, Sam Kasiano, Peter Mata'utia, Tom Mikaele, Greg Minikin, Stefan Ratchford, Josh Thewlis, Luke Thomas, Paul Vaughan, Danny Walker, Tom Whitehead, George Williams

Don't expect any changes unless there are some injuries we don't know of.

I'd rather see Whitehead on the bench rather than Minikin, we seemed a little exposed moving Mata'utia out to SR last week in the dying stages. If Holroyd hasn't got the legs yet to last 80 minutes (which is understandable) then Whitehead coming on would be better imo.

Coaches normally like to keep a fixed team for the first few games of the season so I think the odds are likely to favour the same as last week.

Powell could conceivably 'rest' Holroyd ( in the Reserves on Saturday) to work on aspects of his game and give another of the Academy players a run, but that would mean moving players around. So I think I have convinced myself that he will be conservative and go with the same team.

I have just seen Alfffi's comments as I tried to post. Yes, he could play Whitehead or Thomas. I suppose it depends how strong he views the Salford side - they do have quite a lot of injuries and are now down to a squad of 21 fit players... but I am going to guess the same again.

Holroyd or Whitehead is possibly the main debating point.
Powell commented positively about Holroyds performance last week so I guess he starts as favourite.
I can't honestly say he stood out either way for me, so maybe that's a plus - not like he had a howler.

I thought Thomas was a prop rather than 2nd row, I doubt he'd play..
Minikin can cover all of the back positions so I don't have a major problem with him being there.

The interesting thing for me is the team 'attitude'.
Salford are down on numbers, but still have a dangerous team in the 21.
In the past this was the sort of fixture that we'd make heavy weather of, so if Powell really has changed things (and chiefly the attitude) in the squad then I'd like to see a more than decent performance - a professional performance is arguably more the right term.

Just looking at the squads I think we have more injuries than Salford.
We couldn't have played much better. The Wire attitude has been superb. We will lose sometime & the crap will start flying ... but so far we have coped so well with our injuries.

As pleased as I am with how we have started, it is farcical we are scratching around for second rowers when one of ours is in the Salford squad for Thursday night.

Our squad was always short of experienced second rows. I am yet to watch the Huddersfield game but how did Holroyd go?

We have a bigger squad than Salford and although we have several out I think we're in a better position than they are.
The way we've recruited - props being the priority, along with a decent half - means that it was likely there would be compromises somewhere else in the squad, and as some of those props can play 2nd row it seems logical that that's where it would be.
Personally I'd have gone for 1 less prop and 1 more back row but it depends who was available.
If Currie gets injured in the next month or so - heaven forbid - then I'd be concerned.

Holroyd was a bit anonymous for me, but Powell seemed pleased with his performance (based on his post match interview). I didnt see him making big yards or angled runs that split the defence. It would be interesting to see his stats - particularly how many tackles he made. I think he went off sometime in tbe 2nd half and Ma'atautia moved there with Minikin taking centre spot.

I think mcguire and Philbin will be earmarked for 13 and backup 2nd row, Nicholson and currie first choice 2nd row with harrison to fit in somewhere (he's the hardest to leave out from that list on current form IMO). Just a shame that 3 of the 5 are currently unavailable. Its good to have a couple of younger players in reserve as well. If mcguire wasn't banned then harrison would be 2nd row now for sure.

I can see philbin being impact 2nd row or spelling at 13 when he's available. I don't think he gets in the 13 as a prop personally and I think he will be much better off for it as well.

I agree about the impact prop from the bench for Philbin but does that mean you leave out Bullock and/or Harrison (when Maguire gets back)?
That would be tough on them givien how they are playing currently.

I think it will be mikaele missing out rather than bullock to be honest. I agree with you, bullock deserves to be in the 17 on current form. If mcguire comes back in at 13 I think harrison goes to 2nd row but I'm bot sure where that leaves Nicholson, I'd like to think it would be on the bench so mata'utia doesn't have to play 2nd row.

In a few weeks when philbin, dudson and Nicholson are available Darryl Powell will have a real selection headache, then mcguire will be available not long after making it even harder. Really these are good problems to have as there are likely to be a few more knocks in that time as well. The squad depth looks a lot better this season for sure, at the moment we are unlucky that 3 who would be considered for the 2nd row and loose options are unavailable at the same time.

Vaughan, Kasiano, Harrison & the rest have started so well. To state the obvious we are going to have a pack that ought to sort out most other teams. In reality we are unlikely to have them all available much. We remain most vulnerable in the next couple of weeks.

This is a good point. If we find ourselves in the happy position of being able to leave a forward out for a week or two when they've got a knock, rather than just patching them up and potentially making the injury worse, that would be very beneficial in the long run.

Players will keep getting injured and suspended throughout the season. We always imagine some magical moment will appear when everyone is fit but it rarely does. And if it does, there will be some guys in the team who have earned a rest.

Holroyd (& Whitehead) were obviously more highly thought of than Longstaff, its good to see both players getting some gametime. Hopefully as we see more players coming through the system difficult decisions will need to be made on who to retain and who to let go. Only time will tell whether we have made the correct decision in that regard, but we had 4 second rowers at 20 or younger so decisions needed to be made. Longstaff not being here gives a chance of gametime to Holroyd & Whitehead, Powell seems keen to give youth the chance wherever he can - which is pleasing to see.

With everyone fit, Philbin doesn't get anywhere near a match day squad spot give his form before injury. IMO.

I agree with you here, and I genuinely think Philbin recognises that also and that he will have to up his game.

To be fair to Philbin, in the game he got injured he was looking like the player that got in the GB squad(admittedly it had been a long time coming!). Maybe he had been informed of our new forward signings or had a shape up or you'll be gone with the rest warning.

I have a sneaky Philbin is going to come back in tremendous form. I think he'll make a big impact off the back of our current forwards.

I take your point but Longstaff has shown enough to make me think he is someone we should have in our squad in 2023. The jury would still be out on whether he is a long-term regular but at this stage I'd want to have the option versus two guys with one first-grade appearance between them.

This may be right. Everyone else has come back looking a lot better than last year (low bar I know). No reason to think Philbin will be any different. Would love to see the tackle breaking impact player of a few years ago.

Absolutely, I hope were not making Harrison's knee issue a more longer term problem.

Is Whitehead really 2nd row?

Disappointed we let Longstaff go on loan. I really rated him.
Powell's the coach. He's judged by his calls.