Out the teams in SL this year, we are the only team now not to have made a major final during the SL era.

P.S. well done Salford.

You just watch, next season, Willzay!!!!!!!!!

Proved a point tonight that you don’t have to have a team brimming with big names and shed loads of money ,you need a team that play for each other and play with passion and pride .

Plus a very good coach!

Full credit to Salford, they deserve everything ! As for my team, wakey have the players, BUT, before you think we can do it the same, you need to listen to all that Ian Watson has said !
a). Putting & placing all the key persons of high skill in place from phisio, conditioner, club doctors of science & dietition, + a sound defence coach & attacking coach as well as him overseeing things.
b). Close season spending hours on defence patterns & technique.
c). getting the players to buy into the ethos & team ethic.
d). Players to understand being fit for 80 minutes irespective of attacking needed when your tired !
Finally believing in themselves and the team with these tools.

In all honesty, I like Chester, but are we going to be at this detail & level, I think not, we will proceed with the same systems & this lies the problem/s, we are at best a 60 minute team with poor condition & poor defence, our forwards do not inter pass or put half backs of centres away/through, only big Dave when fit !
Passion only gets you so far, you must have the fitness & condition level of the top four teams, otherwise don't mistake yourself about winning something, this is not crtisisem, it's observations & honesty !!!!!!

As i said a very good coach! This bloke is streets a head of anyone in super league.

I am so pleased for Salford
They are playing some amazing rugby and really deserve this
Also delighted for the fans too

It makes me believe even more so that our turn is just round the corner

Sorry musson, we are not at that level, turns & wishing is not reallity, as my post says, does our coach, staff & owner got the same recognition of issues & will they change staff & systems to achieve it, probably not ! So our turn will not just happen without making things happen !

Well done Salford a club that lets those who know their trade do their jobs and provides them with genuine backing not just empty talk.

Watson’s been outstanding for the last few years

Reality check guys.
Watson is good yes. Deserves all the accolades.
Salford are good yes. Play well as a team

But Jackson Hastings is why they are there.

You beat me to it. Without Hastings arriving in time for last years middle 8's Salford would probably been down.

We are making things happen
We had some of the worst luck imaginable this year
Last season we had attacking threat all over the park
This season half of it was injured

Have faith pal
It will happen for us

And who brought Hastings to the club?

Watson’s seen his team plundered at the end of the last 2 seasons. Hes had his players picked over by other clubs in mid season and had his main playmaker leave for Leeds. He’s seen the owner leave and a fans consortium with next to no money take over plunging the future into uncertainty.

Throughout all that he’s recruited shrewdly and forged a team that plays attractive Rugby League and doesn’t just dish up the stodge and formulated over-scripted dross that 90% of other teams do.

He’s better than good!

And at the end of this season, they lose Josh Jones and Jackson Hastings, along with Bibby (and I think another major one is going). It's great to see them there and I hope they win it, but this is their season in the sun. They won't be the same next year.

Good luck to them though, and I hope it translates to a resurgence.

Well done to Salford & coach but they will not be the same next season, they are pretty much a 1 man team

Just out of interest how do you know what we do in training etc and if it's so different from salford , how do you know in what detail CC and the rest of the coaching team prepare to, how do you know what systems and staff need to change. How do you know what Salford are doing inbetween games is so different to what we are, or most SL clubs for that matter.

Not to take anything away from them but they've had a right touch as far as having no injuries to most players. Going into the season most people thought that a few injuries to an already thin squad would put them in a terrible position come September. Obviously keeping Hastings on the pitch has been crucial & he's guided them around beautifully & showed why he had such huge wraps in the NRL when he came through.

No doubt Watson and his team have had an excellent season, especially that run in, because before that they were sat near us in the table and then suddenly they were in the top 4 after that amazing run of wins late on.

Looking at what Watson has done at salford since he arrived, Last season they finished 2nd bottom and the year before they managed 7th. Has he done anything different this season, or has his team bonded really well and are playing to their max of their ability, off the back of a lot of confidence that got built up during that winning run, which they've taken into the play offs.?

It was only a couple of years ago when we were very close to finishing in the top 3 but for a Grix cock up against Saints in the 80th minute, that would have given us a good chance at OT and Chester was getting similar plaudits having taking a team that doesn't spend the full cap close to winning something,

Not sure why some feel the need to have a dig at Trinity while they're congratulating Salford, surely we can all pat salford on the back without talking CC and the team down.

and our final piece of the jigsaw was?

It's not a dig, & yes we have had bad luck, it's more of a reasoning & a chance to be better from the start for next season by simply saying to one's self - - at the business end of the season we always fade, how come the top four by & large never do ? What are they doing so much better than us ? Why do we fade in games so much ? Finally, let's then match them for this blow by blow, do the same things that they do better than us !! It must be systems ?
If we don't then as much as I will continue to support my team we will not succeed & will have the same outcome we have had the last four seasons !!!!

I completely agree. Some utterly absurd posts on here. Where we are now v where we were is streets ahead. We had awful luck this year and for people to pick us apart just because Salford have done well is ridiculous

Exactly this

Hastings is probably the best half back I’ve seen come from aus since Trent Barret

I don’t see a big difference between us and Salford with exception to Hastings the guy is exceptional

Put him in a fit wakey team with miller and I’m sure we’d be in the GF

Its all ifs and buts. Salford have done extremely well and they do seem to have a coach that Knows what he wants from the team and individuals, and will expect it. For me thats one of the best displays of coached rugby i have seen. I actually thought J H had a quiet but productive game and he recognized that fact with his man of the match award interview.
The pack man for man was the main factor and any half back would benefit from a display like that.

First Well done Salford, I hope they go on and win the GF, because I really like to hear the St's fans have a moan - they're the biggest whingers in SL!
Secondly, imagine if we'd played most of the season with TJ, Bill T, Big Dave, Huby, Arona, Ashurst, Brough etc on the park not in the stand, I for one am convinced we would have been top five.
I'm happy with the recruiting so far and believe we have the right team in management to ensure next year we are stronger.
We then need a slice of luck injury wise.....!

Like all neutrals I will be shouting for Salford but not just because their the underdogs. It's because St Helens owner Lenigan is a poor looser. His reaction after they lost in the cup was pathetic. He was a major player in bringing in Elston who has done nothing for his massive salary. Crowds are down generally in superleague he has shown to be all talk. He has brought in the shot clock and that is about it. Crowds will be down even lower if Lenigan and Elston get there favoured Toronto in SL, a team that can't even play in their own country for half the season because its too cold. Come on Salford come on Featherstone two clubs who truly deserve success because of hard work not because of a single benefactor with deep pockets.

I really dont get this thread.
Why would anyone want to use Salford making the GF as a stick to beat their own club



The irony with our respective seasons is that, we ended up having the season that many expected Salford to have and that they have had the season that we all dreamed about.

There is nothing to say, other than well done Salford and to wish them well next week or, perhaps the op will be desperate for them to get smashed by Saints, just so that they dont win the big prize.