It's all well and good saying play the kids but if they are not ready then it's negligent to play them. RL is an unbelievably tough sport as our current injury list shows. Putting players in who are physically not ready or simply do not have the ability to play at SL level risks serious injury. Those the coaching staff deem to be ready or as close to ready as possible are already playing and in the team.

The reasons why our 19's are not ready now is a side issue and one Salford need to remedy as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this isn't going to happen by Friday. I'm in no way embarrassed by Salford asking for a postponement, it sensible. Just as it's sensible that Hull will decline, it's not their problem.

No matter what anyone says, having 19 players unavailable (through injury & suspension) is unique. Yes, the suspensions are our own doing but nontheless, they are unavailable to play. Its a very testing time and we just have to get on with it and show the same commitment we did against Cas on Sunday.

To those who are foaming at the mouth over this request, it's probably time to grow up a little bit.

The game I’m talking about was Salford vs. Leeds, 9 March 1979. Salford lost 3–0 but fielded a fair amount of locals and reserves in the game.

Edward Kennedy, [iThe Guardian[/i, 10 March 1979
‘Salford, who have not won a match since 17 November and this week had a traumatic confrontation between the board, their coach, Alex Murphy, and his disgruntled players, played with remarkable enthusiasm in the circumstances.

‘They fielded a makeshift team because of injuries and illness and players rarely seen in senior rugby like the scrum-half [David] Harris, [David] Lang at Prop and the hooker [Paul] O’Neil rose well to the occasion. But for all their courage, lack of weight lessened their impact against a much heavier pack.’

Graeme Johns; Keith Fielding, David Stephenson, Sammy Turnbull, Steve Hey; Chris Hesketh (Capt.), David Harris; David Lang, Paul O’Neill, Alan Grice, Stewart Williams, Chris McGreal, Eric Prescott. Subs: Colin Whitefield, Alan Oldham.

As a neutral,I would be asking to why so many injuries! The suspensions yeah ok..That goes down to disipline. But to be carrying so many injuries, for me just does'nt come down to bad luck.And to comment on Fages as in taking so many head shots which yes he's probably use too.I don't see him on the injury list..

Possibly the problem lies somewhere else as...

Not quite sure what you're suggesting. I don't think Morley turning his ankle or Godwin getting his teeth knocked out or even Dobson getting booted in the side of the knee is down to a flaw in our training methods !!!
Simply bad luck, which the club will get through !!!

You can add to that Sa'u injuring his arm in a tackle, Ben Jones-Bishop twisting his knee in a tackle, Josh Griffin breaking a bone in his foot when he landed after taking a short kick off, Jordan Walne a bad eye injury after a being poked in it and nearly going blind, Tommy Lee twisting a knee in a tackle and Liam Hood breaking his thumb.

As you say its just been pure bad luck.

IH - 'The spirit and the attitude of the players against Castleford was superb. We've still got things to work on but we're smart.'

IH - 'In yesterday's training session we had about 12 players that are ready to play on Friday against Hull FC'”

IH - 'Kevin Locke will train tomorrow with the potential of being fit but we'll make that call tomorrow.'

IH - 'We've used a lot of numbers this year and I think it shows the importance of a big squad'

IH - 'It's not bad luck, RL is an impact sport and a lot of our injuries are impact. It comes with the game we've just picked up a lot'

IH - 'Gleeson and Watson are both keen to get out there if we need to'


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