My biggest disappointment was we looked lethargic and tired again after we looked sharp and fit against Widnes. In attack and defence we seemed to have one speed all night and never looked like stepping up, we ambled towards their defensive line in attack then stopped when we got there ( Seb and Ta'ai excluded) and jogged to meet them in defence allowing them to build up steam and make easy yards. This was one of the issues we had last year and i was hoping it was gone !

Ta'ai and Seb we're superb for us early doors and with a bit more guile and right pass selection we could have been well up but as usual bombed chances.
What i don't get is this automatic replacing certain players at certain times, those 2 we're clearly having a positive impact and tiring their guys out so why take them off when they've shown no signs of struggling ? makes no sense, leave them on until they aren't effective anymore not because the clock is showing a certain time, also would we be better served leaving one of them on the bench to start with as at least we have some grunt to bring on rather than losing both of them at the same time ?

Gaskell was very good again, as was Kruise - another one that should be kept on longer.
Brierley looked lost out there last night and didn't have any impact in offence at all, Brough was slightly better.
Fergy was a shadow of last week too and where he was hitting holes and running hard at Widnes, he was one of those guilty of ambling forward with no real purpose.

We know Salford are our bogey side but they simply put in more effort on the night and once again deserved their win over us.

Also, we should have expected it as once again the club does a big push, sells plenty of season tickets, gets a decent crowd (for a Thursday in winter on Sky), build's up hope and as usual the players on the pitch let us down - have we ever turned up for one of these types of games ? i can't recall us doing so.

Very frustrating leaving last night as we saw at Widnes that we can play, we can run, we can control a game but it's the inconsistency that always let's us down !!

Anyway onto the (ex)pussies.

He's never going to be the kind of half that runs a game or creates much. But he's a terrific support player.

He needs to follow Ikafahiho around the pitch and wait for the offload. There's a try a match in it for him.

Contrary to the general belief, it's quite a step up from the NSW Cup to Superleague. On top of that, he's moved country, to a new job, knows no one, and is playing in a UK winter for the first time.

Players like that are always a risk. Even if he ends up as a superstar it will take time.

Totally agree with this, any one who is expecting Breirley to create things is going to be disappointed, What he is is a try scorer, he has bags of pace and he is almost always on hand behind a break, Very much like a young Maguire. Brough is our main play maker, If he is not good enough then start to look for a replacement now, not when it's too late.

Salford were making far more ground than we were, despite a couple of our forwards being the best on the field, and their line speed was twice as fast, Broughs bombs were going up from much too far out, they were just like passes to the fullback.

Lots of room for improvements all over the field, Lots of time to make them and some good signs as well, Leeming is going well, could do with acquiring a kicking game. Early days yet.

Exactly what i said at the game, why hasn't the coaches told him to be on his shoulder ?

yes thought our props of the bench let us down lastnight, wakeman and clough poor

dont get why we played rapira at loose forward!

gaskell looks quality in attack for us joining the line, brierley not so good so far

that pen just before half time to salford was a killer as was the 40/20 just after half time from that those they gained 8 points

got to give the giants some credit for getting back in the game twice and almost pulling it off

early days still plenty of postives

salford we really good too, especially in defence and obrien had a cracker with a try and 7 from 7 kicks

Just turned 34.

This probably ought to be his last season as a first pick, although I suspect he will soldier on to the bitter end like Briers did.


IMO the club needs to be putting 100% into finding his replacement and have him in place for the start of next season.

Didn't he play with Ikahihifo for Illawara Cutters?

Not sure. But even if you know one or two people it can still be hard to adjust to a new place.

The players are just people. And they come with all the same baggage and personal stuff that non-players do.

yeh will take wakeman a while to settle in, also not had a pre season, same goes for mamo

look at ikahihifo now after a full pre season with us! a beast

Just said same as GIANT DAZ last night. We always make a mess after a good away win. We promote the home game as good as we can, and when a reasonable crowd turns up, the team always put in a substandard performance, making the future home games an uphill battle to attract extra supporters.

Brierley is another Danny McGuire. Does begger all but can finish given the chance. Unfortunately that team cannot give him a chance, so he offers nowt

As far as swapping him with Gaskel, we saw last year he can not play fullback

Lots of positives and negatives from last night however I feel pretty frustrated that we aren't finishing our created chances once again. I'm hoping it's just early
season-syndrome.
Confused about Rapira's role... not sure if Brierlys strengths were deliberately not used and very much questioning why Mason and Smith are sitting in the stands over Wakeman at this point in the season until he adjusts to new lifestyles, settles in and gets used to our training regimes.

Defence is an issue that needs sorting.. probably a priority.

Seb and ta'ai were brilliant. Leeming was outstanding and should start games to see how he goes. Broughs kicking out of hand is as impressive as ever.
Nice to see good attacking on our left edge too. Mellor has great potential.

I suppose we have to take Stone's comments on taking a couple of years to start challenging again seriously and take any win we can and hopefully scrape into that 8.

Agree with most of that apart from boroughs kicking- his long range stuff from hand is good but his short kicking game has been very poor.
What worries me is the same problems are still there. Still forcing those last plays and messing them up- whether that being the forced pass, getting caught with the ball or a poor short kick. Still clueless from close to the line- we made it so easy to defend against us in their 10. Still letting in tries down that RHS. Still generally poor defensively. Rapira at loose was a terrible choice- he's not mobile enough to fill those defensive gaps like Hinchcliffe or Lawrence can.
I can sort of understand why he's playing wakeman- he needs game time if he's going to improve and he can't get it anywhere else as he's not allowed to go dual reg whilst mason and smith can.

True.

He's also missed pre-season which is a big minus not just for fitness but knowing all the plays. He's also playing at a higher level for the first time in his career.

Lots of hard work and adapting to do - think it will be well into the season before we see him really settle down.

yep happens every time

chance to get off to a good start at home and we blow it with quite a few newcomers, hope they come back next friday but may have missed the chance again now

All can say is after the way Sebastine & Ukuma ran the ball up,the interchange forwards now know what they have to live up to,if they don't put the same effort in they are letting the opposition off the hook.

Rapira didn't look comfortable as the loose man,maybe better off the interchange

A fb joining the line looking so dangerous to the oppositon,how long have we been waiting for this.

Stone needs to keep building Brierley's confidence in terms of decision making,I think RB's capable of getting this right in the long term.

Yo Paulie...bang on that lad, Seb and Ukuma have set the standard now, can the others match it ?? they will need to !!

Yo Daz b me say u is gangsta with that call b - safe an summa dat b - touch.

Quite.

yes, will he split them up and put one on the bench... they are working well with each other so prob best to keep them together and stick rapira on the bench with either wakeman/clough... they need to try match our starting props


yes a full back joining the line, missed that for years!

Edited for accuracy.

Not with any real creativity or menace though. The last time we had any of that was with Hodgson.

I was really happy with what I saw of Gaskell in attack - he seemed to add something we have been missing. Definitely something to build on