Lovely from Brad O’Neill. He is a superb prospect for us.

He's got the "Dean Bell spin" off to a T

Agreed. I also think Mago is fitter than you might think. Nearly a full half so far an as effective in the last minutes as he was in the first.

Thoughts on Smithies at prop?

I know that last season he was played heavily at 13 (i.e. the extra prop), but for me he's not big enough to keep going down the middle.

With Havard being out and Partington missing most of pre season, is he being tested as a 4th prop option.

Ellis, Mago, Byrne + another?

Doing well against Newcastle but then they're not a particularly big pack. Good leg drive though so would be interesting to see him against a bigger pack.

On Mago: Great offload in the 40th minute there...

Edit: You've missed Singleton out of your prop options.

Entertaining rugby - praise the Lord. I remember watching the Salford friendly last year and being bored out of my mind so very promising signs from a team missing so many.

Good first 40. Looked direct and inventive in attack and obviously nilled them in defence. Extra attacking option with Mago's offloads. 2 excellent ones, resulting in a try and a drop out. I liked KPP at centre and Miski looking strong. All the new guys have gone well and we certainly have some young talent coming through!

Yes I have. Thank you. I knew there was another one, but his name just wasn't coming into my head.

excellent

Yes, pleasing stuff. KPP and Miski looking strong, some good combinations between O'Neill and Shorrocks, Mago hard to put down and with a decent offload, Smith looking lively. Field has been fine so far, but I do worry that he looks a bit weedy.

Great break from Junior Nsemba there. Zach Eckersley has been impressive throughout the match too.

Done it again.

Seems to play what's in front of him really well.

Not sure what happened to him towards the end of the last season (probably Lam), but I'm hoping he'll really cement a spot this year.

Harvie Hill with some great runs.

Yep, there’s no need to flog Powell for 80 mins every week.

Another interesting point for me was how well Matty Nicholson played for Newcastle, their best player by far.

A pleasing start all in all. Really impressed with Halsall, Mago, O’Neill and Nasemba. Some of the kids in the second half did their reputations no harm.

Good hit up,needed that like a pint after a hard days work just enough till the next one-Warrington.

A good run out. Very solid with nothing to get carried away with yet. We looked more creative in open play and isn't it good to see forwards running with support.
Of the young lads Nsemba was excellent but a big shout out to Nicholson who is on loan at Newcastle and with the 22 were probably the biggest threats to us.

He was superb. It’s going to be a great move for him that. All being well you’d imagine he’ll be a regular start and 25+ games at that level should really help him develop with a view to him becoming a first teamer here in 2023.

I guess the only slightly worrying thing is the lack of a sponsor on the shirt. I know it's been done to death, but it points towards the payments not being made and that's money out of the pocket of the club.

Some very good signs from that game.

Harry smith looked good, plenty of talk and some good play.

Really liked field at fullback, he was threatening and linked up well with the halfbacks showing some good hands. Definately want to see more of him here.

Was impressed with mago, had the effect i wanted to see from him, big impact, hard to put down, some good offloads and i think fitter then he seemed. I wouldnt expect him to play that many first half minutes in a normal game, i think he will be a 2 speller under normal circumstances and devastating off the bench in the 2nd half.

Miski went well, looked strong. From what i saw of him at london i don't think we saw his full potential in that game, definately more to come from him.

Nsemba should definately be getting some game time this season, the lad looks ready and raring to go! Very excited for more of him.

Liked joe shorrocks at loose, i think this is his best postion and from an interview of his the other day the one he is trying to make his own. Good passing game, plenty of defence work as you would expect. I feel like he has put abit of size on in the off season, seems to have filled out a little more which is good to see. The new haircut is much appreciated too, the hair was definately getting out of hand!

O'neill had a very good game, very impressed with him. Good control and fed the ball well, scooted at the right moments and a couple of excellent kicks. Very glad we kept hold of him, would have been a tough choice between him and borough salford have picked up a good prospect in him too.

Other players who impressed - eckersley looks a good prospect for the future on the wing, silva looked solid if not abit raw, smithies solid game and seems to have put abit of much needed size on also, thought hill had a good stint too took some strong carries and has abit of natural size, never heard of him mentioned before but i will keep an eye out in future.

Silva looks a real talent but agree with the point above about him being raw. He just needs to keep it nice and simple. When he did that he did really well but he tried to push one or two offloads that didn’t come off.

Yes he really looks the part, doesn't he?

Wigan should have stopped him for that try, though.

Fantastic engine. His work rate is first class. Not the biggest but Ellis made the point in commentary that he has the technique to make this work for him by maintaining a low centre of gravity. Little raw at times as you say, but otherwise looked good.

The standout points from the game for me were Mago bringing the 'go forward' we'd all hoped he would but also showing an offload game that I perhaps wasn't expecting quite so much, KPP in the centres looking like he'd been studying Dean Bell and Junior Nsemba...what a prospect he is!

Good across the board with more attacking shape and options than we saw all last season. Roll on next week and let's see what the guys that didn't play today can bring.

Some good points from the game.
I think we threw about more in 40 minutes than we did in the last 3 years.

Field looks physically frail but there is a footballer in there.

O’Neil hopefully as a minimum will ensure that Powell making 40 tackles a games isn’t enough.

Smith literally looked like a different player

Enjoyed it. Not said that for a while.