Oh right, so did the salary cap prevent Bradford going into admin and Salford and London very nearly going bust but for the intervention of new owners?

'Level playing field'. In other words a status quo. The salary caps works really well when a star studded squad (Leeds) can sign a would be challengers best player (Briscoe).

In your own words 'strange comment'

Biggest disappointment has to be Smith. He looks completely out of his depth and I really cant see him getting any better when Chase returns with his 'unpredictable' plays. Mullaney looks good, S'au looked unfit. It really says a lot when Jason Walton looked the most dangerous player in the team. All in all, Widnes looked like a TEAM, Salford didn't!!!!!!

Good to see some sensible posts from opposition fans.

Ok where do I start. Silverwood had a poor game, some of his decisions left me absolutely baffled. How did you manage to adjudge the Salford player (at the end of the first half) had obstructed an on rushing Widnes defender when he was facing his own sticks and had his back to them? If you're penalising for that, you could spend half the game giving penalities. How many times was he going to allow Theo Fages to receive a high tackle? The worst for me though was their final try, Phil Joseph appeared tackled and then Kevin Brown didnt look to get the ball down. If they did fair enough, but why didnt he go to the video screen? He did for Theo's try.

Stuart Howarth and Danny Williams both not Super League players in a month of Sunday's. I dont care how hard they try and the effort they put in, their both just not good enough. Williams I accept is in the squad due to injuries, yet Howarth is appearing to become a regular in the 17. Why we loaned Gareth Owen out and kept this lad on I'll never know.

Greg Johnson, Harrison Hansen, Theo Fages and Jason Walton were all outstanding.

Our defence is concerning me. We've got some great individual defenders, yet as a unit we're still a long way from where we need to be. I understand this will come with time.

Attacking wise we were predictable and boring. It was only when Theo began to play off the cuff (which he should always be doing - let Smith do the organising) that we started breaking the Widnes line. To many times the players around Smith didnt know what they were doing and we either dropped the ball, took it flat or Smith ended up getting wrapped by Widnes. Again, I think it's a time issue and the longer we give it the better it will become. Lets not forget Rangi is a crucial part the machine we worked hard on in training.

Widnes were decent, but that's it. I was impressed with their effort but they just do the basics right. I still felt we were the better team last night (even with our injuries) but I hope they push for a top 8 spot.

If Chase was fit for next week, who would you drop Fages or Smith?

The salary cap is a good thing, you will find no arguments with me on that one. However, it has not been reviewed for around eight years and a number of clubs, yourselves included, would be able to work under a higher cap without putting the clubs at risk. Also, it's all well and good developing youth, however a few years down the line some of that youth will the talented superstars of the day. Do you carry on offering them less money than they can get elsewhere and bank on loyalty, watching a slow drip of talent moving to Union where they can earn more cash, or do you look at ways of keeping that talent in the game without putting the clubs in financial risk? Whether the marquee signing is the way to go, or whether there's another way around it, is up for sensible discussion and hopefully the clubs will discuss it sensibly. Dismissing it so bluntly gets us nowhere.

As for the U21s, I think it should have been kept as well, but I do wonder if you've used it as a rod against any other club, or if it's just convenient to use in your blind rage and hatred towards Koukash.



Nowt to do with him being a scapegoat, he just really isn't good enough.



We really, really weren't.

Good question. I would still stick with Smith though. Most of what we've worked on in pre-season would have involved both Smith and Chase and whilst Theo was excellent, I would demote him to the bench in place of the untouchable Howarth.

]

I disagree.

Nothing going forward, defensively poor and loads of mistakes. Widnes looked a threat every time they attacked our line (aided by our poor defence), looked solid and well organised at the back and kept mistakes to a minimum. We also looked absolutely knackered at the end, whilst Widnes' fitness seemed quite good.

Either way, I guess it's not that important, however good we were, we just weren't good enough.

Has Fages got the defensive skills to play 9? I understand what you are saying about Chase/Smith, but Smith must up his game or he might lose his place.

Personally I wouldn't have signed Smith and gone with Sneyd, Chase and Fages.

On the other point I thought it was an even game with Widnes taking here chances more, they had more class 1,6 and 7.

Couple of observations from a Wire fan (with a soft spot for Salford):

1 - defence from dummy half wasn't great - watch a rerun of Hanbury's try... incredibly weak ruck defence. Real schoolboy stuff.

2 - Widnes were clearly better at the tackle area. They have been doing a lot of work with a pro UFC/MMA guy (i forget his name) and they were far better at wrestling the ball carrier onto his back/controlling the speed of the PTB. Salford should take note.

3 - Up until Salford collapsed at around 60/65 mins, it was a great game to watch. Really enjoyed the 1st half.

4 - For once, Stevo was probaby correct when bleating on about a '1 pointer' on the 40 min mark. That would have pushed it to a 8-13 with Salford getting the ball back. Instead, they ended up deep in their half, and gave away a stupid penalty.

Well said Celt - up to 65 minutes I was thoroughly enjoying it, things were starting to look a lot better than the previous two games I'd seen (missed London away).
Getting turned over like that in the last 15 minutes was a real disappointment (and if that last Widnes try was grounded I'll bare my bum in Burton's window) - but I reckon Nobby has positives to build on and we are definitely going forwards not backwards.

Enjoyed the game loved the Dr Who music at the end . .

I know he tipped Salford as GF winners this season, but it's nothing short of an embarrassment how far up the backsides of Salford Phil Clarke is during his commentaries of your games.

Even last night when it was obvious the game was up, he was chirping sh*te about Salford having 'the players and the time to get back into the game'.

Worst pundit on Sky...and that's saying something.

Quote: GT "The salary cap is a good thing, you will find no arguments with me on that one. However, it has not been reviewed for around eight years and a number of clubs, yourselves included, would be able to work under a higher cap without putting the clubs at risk. Also, it's all well and good developing youth, however a few years down the line some of that youth will the talented superstars of the day. Do you carry on offering them less money than they can get elsewhere and bank on loyalty, watching a slow drip of talent moving to Union where they can earn more cash, or do you look at ways of keeping that talent in the game without putting the clubs in financial risk? Whether the marquee signing is the way to go, or whether there's another way around it, is up for sensible discussion and hopefully the clubs will discuss it sensibly. Dismissing it so bluntly gets us nowhere. As for the U21s, I think it should have been kept as well, but I do wonder if you've used it as a rod against any other club, or if it's just convenient to use in your blind rage and hatred towards Koukash. Nowt to do with him being a scapegoat, he just really isn't good enough. We really, really weren't.'" This m.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/3859

Quote: GT "The salary cap is a good thing, you will find no arguments with me on that one. However, it has not been reviewed for around eight years and a number of clubs, yourselves included, would be able to work under a higher cap without putting the clubs at risk. Also, it's all well and good developing youth, however a few years down the line some of that youth will the talented superstars of the day. Do you carry on offering them less money than they can get elsewhere and bank on loyalty, watching a slow drip of talent moving to Union where they can earn more cash, or do you look at ways of keeping that talent in the game without putting the clubs in financial risk? Whether the marquee signing is the way to go, or whether there's another way around it, is up for sensible discussion and hopefully the clubs will discuss it sensibly. Dismissing it so bluntly gets us nowhere. As for the U21s, I think it should have been kept as well, but I do wonder if you've used it as a rod against any other club, or if it's just convenient to use in your blind rage and hatred towards Koukash. Nowt to do with him being a scapegoat, he just really isn't good enough. We really, really weren't.'" This m.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/3859