Simply not good enough at the moment. I am not writing him off just yet but needs a few weeks in the 20 a. I remember we had to do the same time with Jeffries. Simple, change wood to Stand off. Ellis on bench. Think Agar knows it..

Have to disagree he looked ed off when he came off and think he's been made a bit of a scapegoat on here. Played as good if not better than smith and I didn't think wood offered much when he came on. Don't get me wrong I think woods been fantastic all year but don't see why John is sacrificed over smith, for me he's the one who needs a kick up the !

I think we certainly seem to find the flanks more with John on the field rather than without him. After he went off Trinity became very predictable with an overdose of inside balls and one dimension rugby.

He missed a couple of key tackles yesterday. I am not saying he was the only one, but his misses were telling especially the miss on Nero in the second half. He did himself no favours in the first half when he chose to kick with a 2 man overlap. I personally think he is trying too hard and as previously stated Smith is quite predictable with the inside ball.

I thought John was solid and looked busy for the most part.

The only real blunder he made was the tackle on Nero. He was solid and sent a few good passes here and there.

Think we should stick with him.

I thought John look and played good in first half and also the Wood was a littlie anonymous in attack in the 2nd half, probs his worst appearance so far, however defensively Wood played better than John and made a couple of big tackles on guys far bigger than him (admittedly one high one)
Team did well for 70 mins, just the last 10 that spoilt a pretty good performance, john is playing far better since the responsibility of kicking has been off loaded to Sykes, think he should stay in the starting 14 IMO

Yes I agree John has his faults and its still work in progress with him. I also know he missed a couple of bad tackles but he really works very hard in defence and covers back well.

Here is a suggestion, as far as I am aware we have not tried a Wood/john combination as yet.

I think it was Wigan when it was Wood/John ?

I agree, but so did Wood - after watching Wood tackle today I can see why Agar doesn't have him on more. I like Wood but he has to improve his tackling.

Yes John missed a few but that were both big man - small man tackles. Wood missed them on the flank where size is not such an issue - Gibson should have been smashed into touch even by a little fellow, forgivable if his only miss. Smith on the other hand can tackle. I think John gets the not because his all round game is slightly better than Wood.

To answer the whole thread - this must have a prop nonsense is surely ended now, the backs are decent - it is definitely the pivots (with the exception of Aiton) where the problems lays.

I thought we looked much better before John went off, the lad is still adjusting to the UK game Ive seen enough flashes from him to see he will go OK Tim Smith can be awesome at times his passing is exceptional both ways at times.

been saying this for a while now but each game there is his name is on the teamsheet. clearly Agar is probably realising this now hense dragging him off. Again his game littered with missed takles, wrong options....the 3 on 1 overlap and he chose to kick was amatuer, he didnt even draw the man before he did it ! i saw two or three passes that were at players ankles, which i think we knocked on twice from, and defence and positioning poor again, I am afraid he is out of his depth and to keep hearing people saying give him time ?? How long the season is half over.
I am shocked that some people on here think he is doing great because he is not. Smith has been far better up to now.
The under 20's for John for me, and lets see what Wildie can do he has been playing well and deserves a shot.

You obviously didn't go to the Leeds game where Wood tackled his heart out. John couldn't tackle his dinner. Hes so slow its unbelievable John in the 20's for me.

Did you go to the game yesterday!?
I take it you didnt see Isaac run 60meter, from a standing start, to chase down Ashley Gibson.


Give the lad a break, hes 23 and traveled half way around the world and people are expecting miracles from the kid.
Isaac offers us much more options on the field, with him having the abillity to swing the ball wide, at a quick pace and willing to take on the line, more than just the simple drop of/inside ball.
As for "John couldn't tackle his dinner"... 156 tackles, 25 marker tackles seem to disagree with this comment!

I'll give you one thing you have bottle, you're an idiot but brave. After the rubbish you have posted of late and been lampooned over I'm surprised you have the nerve - especially after Midgetgate.

So you have seen the replay for the Leeds game have you? Thought not. Bet Agar has.

I thought Wood tackled well yesterday until I watched it again. That is what Video is for. John had an OK game with one glaring error in defence - happens to the best.

You new victim John, is your silliest yet and will blow up in your face, but then your so thick skinned it won't register anyway.

You keep trying to get one over on me and I'll keep slamming you down

Haven't watched the game back but, having vented frustration that Wood was back on the bench and not starting, I watched his game closely and that was , by far, the worst game he has played for us. Teams target him all the time and, for the most part, he has stood his ground, but last night he seemed a liability and I wonder if Ellis might get a look in next game.

Smith was once again the architect of all the good things we do - John was solid but not spectacular. He will never be the next Toppo, but then who could be. I think patience will pay off with him in the end.

Not having made the game because of work, but having seen the game on tv, smith seemed to make a much greater contribution than John
My opinion only though

Happy to stick with Smith, John the jury is still out. Wood was poor last might and i feel he is much more effective at hooker. Is Wildie ready to be a superleague halfback? We certainly haven't got an immediate answer so i'd probably stick with John for a game or two yet.

Agree with you about Smith TRB
Was thinking I had watched a different game to some people.
John OK, hoping he will improve, think there is something there.

Must say we looked better with John on having said that hes nothing special and i do not see the point in bringing this type of player over then hes not much better than the Brits he keeps out.

dont get Agars bench selection Alton plays a full game and he did well but if Wood was on the bench to replace John sorry dont get it you either play the halfback from the start or not also Mellers when Kirkmond or Frankie could cover in the event of a centre being injured Sykes could also cover halfback in the event of injury. for me Johnson should have being on the bench with Ellis

Watching the replay we got 2 or 3 lousy calls that help Salford back into the game but that was a close call just glad to have 2 points

and there we have it hes not a kid if he had it we would be seeing it Shaun Edwards was 17 Sam Tomkins 17/18 Topo 18 Henry and Robbie Paul 17/18 Derek Fox 18/19 I could go on this is not a kid we are talking about hes 23

couldn't quite understand why in pre-season everybody was hype-ing him and expecting big things straight away. Even though he comes with a good rep from certain people he's only had a handfull of first grade nrl games, but seems to be copping some unnecessary stick. I think he's doing alright so far but still needs time to adjust properly and take some pressure off him, i think he will come good in the end.

Ok my view of the game, why have mellers on the bench? If he isn't better than the other centres, which he isnt, then don't play him. If we get an injury in the backs kirmo can fill in, we have enough versitility to cover all positions, cant sykes play hb? What does Ellis have to do to get a game? This probs get me shot down but I'd rather have Ellis than woods yesterday. I'd keep same team for next game but mellers out, Ellis in

He's a speculator - the hype created about him was on the forum tbf. For me it's a 50/50 as to whether you should use a quota spot for a speculator but if it pays off who will care. I think John is a better player than Wood or Wildie but not by a huge margin - certainly not enough to guarantee a starting place.

He is a kid in NRL terms, players like Tomkin would only just be getting a sniff in the NRL now. That's not a dig at Tomkins but they have dozens of them. John looks like a player who was not quite NRL but more than capable of carving a career for himself in SL where it's just a little less crowded.

We shall see, but he's no Henry Paul which wrongly is what we were expecting.

Also Tim Smith is a genius on his day but hardly the easiest player to play with I'd have thought which can't help.

Without doubt for me the real controversy of the night. Utterly bizarre, as bad as any of Kears - is there some new coaching philosophy we don't know about. One poster on here made a similar mistake in their team selection but was quick enough to realise their error - so what's Agars reasoning.

A centre and an out of form one at that WHY! I'm not part of the Ellis must play gang but he would have made way more sense than that - I'd love to know the logic.

Let Ellis go and use the money for something else. Not the poor lads fault but it is now clearly a waste of everyones time having him in the squad.

Thing is vasty, I have the feeling those 'days' come round about as often as those perfect hard tracks that we used to wait for in respect of BJ .

We need a top half who has a good alround game, and delivers at a good level more or less game after game.