I don't want to hear any more criticism of Theo. I sat just behind his mother in Perpignan last week. He doesn't know it but he's about to become my stepson. I intend to mention it to his mother soon.

This.
I love Tasi & Walton just on their vitality, them + Fages injected go forward, and turned the game.
Fages is 20, 44 SL games under his belt and Salfords longest serving player. There should always be a place for him as he is our future not the 1-2 year imports.

We were 12-6 up when Theo came on.

Theo made some great runs from dummy half. He also let McShane in for his try by charging off the line. He's a good young player and he hasn't looked out of place last year or this. But let's not overstate things. He's still learning and so he should be

*shakes head*

Rest my case.

Picking none fit injured players can cause more damage. We have a big enough squad to pick 100% fit players

I don't think anyone is saying he's the finished article. Not by far. But to say he's just average is being disingenuous.

Squad stats over five games:

Second highest try scorer, only missed nine tackles, only made two errors, average gain of 7.55m.

In fact, pretty much all his stats show him to be well above average in the squad.

It doesn't bother me people having differing opinions over anything, as long as they show that it's well considered. It's difficult for people not to let some bias or other into their thinking which can cloud judgement. Better to let fact rather than opinion sway your mind. If the evidence showed he wasn't playing well, coupled with watching his performance then fair enough. I think he's been playing well, and the stats seem to show this too.

Theo has been different class this season and was very unlucky not to of started v Wakefield as him and Chase were building up a partnership.

But you can also understand we need a good kicking game so Dobson will be starting if he's fit.

Going forward though couldn't we play Fages & Hood as hookers and start Lee at loose he is a tackling machine. Let's be honest we can't defend anyway so let's just go for it!

I find it surprising that some Salford supporters feel the need to publicly criticise a young player that always gives his all for Salford. The kid scores plenty try's, was our player of the year in 2013 at 20 years old, he's played 6 times for France and his stats make impressive reading. As Butcher rightly says he's not the finished article but I think he's only going to improve and get better. The only conclusion I can make is that some people find the credit he receives, over exaggerated.

I thought Walton was at fault for McShane's scoot for dummy half. It is only his first game of the season though.

True I think if we are to beat teams this season it's all going to rest on our attack. I can see us being in the top 4 worst defensive sides this season.

As long as still score more than the opposition I don't mind it makes for a more open and exciting encounter.

This is the main thing for me. Some people are obsessed with Fages to the point of embarassment.

I think he's a good player, if we had recruited another young developing halfback instead of Dobson & started Chase/Fages I wouldn't have an issue at all. The fact is though we went and bought Dobson, who when fit and settled will bring a lot to the team & I'm sure Fages will learn a lot from him.

I agree it was Waltons fault,a single mistake in his otherwise excellent performance.
The discussion about Theo is quite interesting .
My own take is that he's a very good player and will improve even more. Theres no doubt that,as the smallest player,his tackling ability is targeted by the opposition and he struggles against the biggest forwards,despite his great effort and guts.
His performances are fair game to be discussed,obviously,but the reaction to even the slightest negative appraisal is way over the top.
He's a very good player,but not above criticism.

I'd say they're both at equal fault for McShane's try. It's no massive deal for either, just something to work on.

Theo shotting forward reminded me of Rangi vs Catalans when he left a massive hole for Henderson to scoot through from the scrum. Rangi's was the worse of the two though!

These are just little things I'm sure we're working on in training though, they'll come together as the team settles a bit more.

Walton should have done better but if Theo hadn't run off the line the try isn't scored. As Andy says it's not a massive deal. The problem is that there seems to be a thing with some Salford fans that someone is either perfect or rubbish with nothing in between. So any criticism is jumped on by some and any praise is jumped on by others with no rational comments about strengths and weaknesses. Given how good he is at 20 Theo has the potential to be great (not perfect note, no player is. Not Inglis, not Burgess, not Cronk, not Thurston, etc).
I didn't hear the booing of Dobson but that is a disgrace. There were about half a dozen fellas (all regulars) sat in the east stand who spent the whole game slagging him off. One was on his feet shouting abuse at Dobson because he put a poor pass in. No knock on or anything, just not a good pass. You wonder what some people expect. My favourite bit was when a different 'fan' blamed Dobson for Lee's drop goal attempt because he should have taken it. Takes some doing to get to that conclusion.