After the last few dour years the one thing I wanted at the start of the season was to be entertained and show some attacking flair.

I was certainly entertained and we showed attacking flair. It would be easy to concentrate on the negatives but sod ‘em. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Both teams were obviously tired after the hectic Easter schedule and understandably shipped some soft tries.

I thought Field owed the team that one at the end after two poor passes saw blown match winning tries. Marshall was MOM for me.

Can’t help but think, unless we rest most of the team next week our chances in the semi have gone from not great to very slim indeed.

Reckon we could rest and rotate some for next week but doubt we could do a "Saints".
On the plus side it's a full week after the Wire game to the semi

Not sure if I'm buying into this rest thing.

Ellis, French, Marshall, Thornley, Smith, O'Neill, Singleton, Havard (8 out of 1icon_cool.gif have all missed plenty of games this year.

I enjoyed that, last 10 minutes was at times frustrating but a good watch. Crowd a little disappointing considering it was on a Sunday and the last home game for a while

Not a great quality game although there were some moments obviously but a fantastic watch and again a game that should hopefully appeal to the first time viewer.

I think game management was our biggest issue today aside from the bombed opportunities.

Powell and TL pull us around the field and place us in positions at key times and I thought we missed that in a big way today.

Really enjoyable game non the less.

Disagree mate, thought he was a disaster, slow distribution.

That “try” he scored with the most obvious obstruction I’ve ever seen could have cost us the game.

Nobody will like this but now french is more match fit.

6 French
7 Cust
9 O’Neill

14 Smith

When O’Neill needs a breather Cust to 9 for 20/30 mins.

We need French as involved as possible.

add to that at the end when Ellis was his dummy runner on the 5th he hit him and lucky he was able to offload it back, poor decision making

Missed Powell and Tommy, two amazing defenders in positions most teams try to exploit defensively.

O’Neil and Smith need to improve that aspect and I’m sure they will with time.

Yep good call that was another one.

Thought Brodie Croft was outstanding for Salford.

Yep Brodie Croft was outstanding, but......

He bombed a try in the first half with a pass equally as poor as Fields to Marshall in the 2nd, and Fields seemed to get a bit of stick for his passing.

The pass to Bevan was ok, Bevan really should have taken it.

I thought we played a little too conservative at times and didn't exploit French and Field enough - they basically had to make their own magic happen.

However, it was the 3rd game with very few rested so can't be too critical.

Very entertaining and great game for C4. I hope Fields trys French's amazing break and the overall attacking play from Salford will pull in a few more casual observers.


shorrocks passing at dummy half is too pedestrian and not something we should persist with imo. Better to move Cust to 9 and Field to 6 to keep our better players involved more often when/if O'Neil goes off.

I’m not a fan of switching key positions during a game. French is a real conundrum though. We struggled to get him involved today.

I don’t want to see Field moved from FB, firstly he is playing too well there, secondly I have concerns over his passing if he plays in the halves.

I don’t believe French is a stand off in the way we use halves with one on each side.

I think Kevin Brown hinted at one could be a solution, not sure exactly how it would work though.

Considering both teams had an hard Easter I thought that was a cracking game.
I thought that the 1,6 and 9 from Salford were excellent.
I think that our fitness and the individual brilliance of Field got us out of a tricky situation

Cust continues to improve and Field is proving to be an exceptional find.

We did but I think that’s down to our average centres as opposed to how we played. Put a Gildart/Carmont in his centre and they’d have put him away for fun. Thornley is solid enough, I just don’t think he’s a creative, hit a line into a gap or put your winger away centre but more a back rower type centre. If we needed a back rower I’d be looking to him to fill that role.

Bibby was anonymous today and has been for a few weeks. Halsall should play instead next week IMO. He’s another one, alongside Partington I just don’t see. He works hard most of the time but I just don’t see him with a future here in a side vying to win SL/CC titles.

Bibby was OK defensively. I wondered if Peet went with him rather than Halsall because he thought he'd stand up to Watkins better?

Still only young and never had a good chance at loose forward. Give him a good run there and watch him play.

I agree. Fully professional rugby league players that no longer have to worry about County Cup games, John Player/Regal Trophy, early Challenge Cup rounds, extended tour games in Australia.... these players have never had it easier.

Marshall and French need dropping for dropping balls inches from the tryline

I said the other week, physically there’s no room for him. We can’t carry a small second row and have him anywhere near the team. He’s a decent player in his own right, a 7/10 at most things but we need sheer size in that back row after a decade without it.

Field needs dropping for three awful passes

Talking of passes what a sublime piece of play from Brad O'Neill to shimmy his body the wrong way and throw that beauty to Ellis under the sticks. Had a great game and when he went off it slowed our attack right down which played into Salford's hands.

Thought he had a very composed game - good distribution and wasn't caught out in defence.

In hindsight it was quite poor not to put him on the bench vs. Wakefield to get him some match fitness, with a view of him doing the full 80 yesterday. I thought Shorrocks would do well when he came on but struggled. Gives Peet a dilemma now as we have no other options there having released Bourouh.

I can't understand Wigan persisting with Shorrocks at 9 - he is dreadful there, like he's playing in slow motion.

Can O'Neill play 80?

I’m not sure if it’s available online anywhere but his pass from dummy half on loan at Widnes last season was freakish and a sign of the ability he has in that regard. He cut about 3 players out and sent a winger in iirc.

I didn’t mind Shorrocks getting a spell but that spell was far too long. He simply isn’t a hooker and should be doing 10-15 mins tops whilst O’Neill charges his batteries.

Hope so in the semi, we can't afford to waste an interchange on a 9 against Saints

Salford loaned Bourouh out too...