Salford

[markill]

only downside was gells and FPN looked very unfit

I'm not sure it was a fitness level thing for Gells. He was feeling his hamstrings for much of second half so I'd think there was a twinge he picked up in game.

[DaveO]

Farrell ran 191 metres from 21 carries and was clearly the best player on the pitch. He's so underrated at superleague level it's untrue. The sky guys very rarely seem to mention him as one of the leagues better players.

Never understand why he is so overlooked. I was saying at the end of last season he was a key player to return for us at the end.

Season before his understanding with Budgie led to some great moves and great tries.

Maybe it is because he isn't huge for a back row forward.

He certainly has an eye for a gap, is quick and knows where to pass the ball.

[Wigan_forever1985]

It certainly seemed like the players sat back a little in the second half and were prepared to soak up the pressure. It never really looked like Salford would be able to catch up and to be honest with a 6-12 penalty count against us we did well to keep Salford below 20.

There were some good signs. The left edge of Williams, Faz, Gildart and Budgie looked very dangerous and there were some positive signs from Escare too. His attacking game was more impressive than Tierney's but there was that one high kick which he got nowhere near which worries me.

Farrell was outstanding and I thought Isa was brilliant in defence. I expected both sides to favour attacking down their left so it's no surprise that most of our tries came down that side.

The concerns for me were some woeful last tackle options where it seemed no one was calling for the ball or had any idea what to do (very similar to last year). Discipline was terrible, particularly the way we defended the ruck.

Clubb looked good on his return. Flower was quiet but not poor. Joel looked decent at loose forward and I think there's definitely potential for that to be his long term position.

Big disappointments were FPN and Lockers, who were both awful.

To be fair to Escare the modern full backs dont seem really that good in general at this. I think we went through an era of Rads/Wellens/Withers/Briscoe where you had super defensive full backs. The role has changed now and 9/10 if the ball goes up in the air the modern fullback either wants nothing to do with it or drops it on the catch, in superleague anyway.

Onto Faz, he is probably over looked because he has a brain, most 2nd rowers are complimented when they are flattening other players like Gaz Hock used too. This is in fact poor play mitigated by physical prowess. Faz runs amazing lines that take him through the gaps rather than the bodys he also has incredible agility for a forward able to change direction quickly[/b]

[josie andrews]

Gelling might be in some trouble for that on-report 'tackle.' Depends on whether the RFL will want to set an example early in the season.

Gelling hasn't even been cited

http://www.rugby-league.com/superleague ... rs-charged

[FWarrior]

Nothing Faz does now is anything he did not do as a junior. Most players do not find remarkable new skills in the professional game they just maximise what they already had. Left sides players invariably look better than right sided one because most team prefer to attack right to left. Our left side offers threats across the line. Imagine Faz running outside George and inside Oli and Budgie. Any second rower would love that opportunity.

[moto748]

Frank Zappa??

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Normality resumes, why do we throw games so often when we should be closing the game down

We won! :eh: