Moving away from the halves though, for the first competetive game this season, we should be pretty much at full strength in the front row.

Chester said in pre and post match St Helens interviews that Allgood will be fine for this weekend, and that England should be OK. He also said Kirmo would be fine too.

Only real notable absentees are BJB, Jowitt and Hirst I think

I dont think we have much to fear if we can replicate the defence and game management from the Saints game. We need to get a bit more oil into our attacking structures but we've had wholesale changes in the pivots so I suppose will take a little time.

I think Walker may have earned a promotion up the front row pecking order. If Allgood is selected he will have to be in nature like his name. No comment from me as I do not remember seeing him play other than in pre season when he got injured.

What a surprise you contradict me



It was a joke, fake news said in a Donald Trump voice

I'm not convinced that Smith is a loss to any team and McGuire likewise. Also do these teams not have more than one H/B in the squad.

Is that your way of saying Willzay was right?

Oooh, someone's a snowflake today.

You work it out or would you like it in triplicate which I imagine is more your style.

Vasty's gone all Catcher in the Rye - he's always been a contrarian, but now it would seem I'm his only friend; what's happened Vasty - would you like to talk about it?

With regard to the Salford game - very difficult to call, since they're so up and down; they can play some really good attacking rugby - but they can also implode. I would advocate a further display of back to basics rugby a la the Saints game, focusing on defence, high completion, and creating opportunities for Miller and Williams to do what they do in the opposition 20. And make sure that Griffin is well taken care off - he'll make mincemeat of a centre/winger combo who don't trust each other enough to hold their positions in defence.

Josh Griffins at Hull

Think he's on about George to be fair, but I'm more worried about Sau and Carney - those lads are wrecking balls and gonna be up against MCB and Tupou.

I reckon that to be on course to make the top 8 (or better), Wakey need to win 3 from the next 5 games. The Salford game isn't a 'must win' game, but it will put more pressure on the next few games.

I typed that in a hurry - I meant Sau I think; he can be a devastating runner.

At the start of the season, this game looked like one of our "easier" home fixtures.
However, Salford look like a very difficult team to beat.
Having won 2 from 4, against Leeds and Warrington but, been beaten by Shudds and Leeds

, their form is very difficult to read.
Having said that, if we defend as we have in our opening 3 games, we should be ok.
Johnstone is due a couple of tries so, i'm going for:
22 -14 toi Trin
MoM Johnstone
Att; 4654

Come on Trin !

Intriguing game this one.

Both teams are severely underrated and playing decent stuff. Correction to Wrencats post above, we beat Hudds away and lost to Leeds away by the worst forward pass in history. Apart from our first half performance against Wigan, we've played pretty good in all our matches. Our spine seems healthy at the moment with Todd Carney to come in, but we're missing some of our impact forwards in Murdoch-Massila and Hauraki. However, the forwards have been pretty dominant considering this and quite easily controlled the Warrington pack last week. Makes for an interesting game though. O'Brien and Sau are pretty hot so far this season and could cause you problems, especially with Justin Carney fresh and back.

Conditions and forwards could dictate how this game goes, but I really don't know which way it will go. My heart says Salford, but we don't play well at your place generally and you're a side like us that are dangerous and can beat anyone on the day.

As long as the outcome isn't decided by some dodgy reffing I'll be happy.

Mr Hicks doesn't inspire confidence in that regard; he's got the capacity to make some baffling decisions.

I guess with two sides who perceive themselves to be badly done to by officials, it may well come down to who can maintain discipline and be the ref's least most disliked team on the day. We also both have players who can incur the wrath of a pedantic official - Carney (J) for you, and Fifita for us - so it will be an interesting afternoon!

Ee jus needs a cuddle

I'm surprised you haven't been approached, this forum needs Mods, contrary Mary's, the voice of sense/reason, and cuddlers

its a thankless task but it could be your calling

is Kirmond playing? wasnt he injured last week against saint?

Chris Chester said he was ok to play this weekend.

I can't be a mod - I like arguing too much, and am an entirely unreasonable person.

Yet you are describing me to a tee ... so you could, if you wanted

oddly... I would pick this as the tie of the round

two intriguing teams...

power and pace in both teams... guile and menace in the halves...

cant chose a winner based on early form.. but heart says home advantage will tell.

The results from tonight mean that a win against Salford is much more necessary, they need to keep up with the lead pack and run with at least a 50% win rate. Wins against Leeds and Leigh will be harder to get now that their confidence is raised following big wins

yeah, can't we play Shudds again instead, that looks more and more like a 2pt cock-up every week.

Shame the lads shut off after 60 minutes and let Hudds win, that lapse could easily come back to bite us later in the season