Yes - queried both wholesale changes on Tuesday and Austin’s selection at LF last night.

For me, Price had to look at the conditions and think 'this isn't the right game for Matty Ashton'. He didn't and that decision probably kept Salford in a game you could and should have won.

Ashton is a star in the making and a potential match winner but as soon as the weather showed it's hand we should have put him on the bench and Ratchford to FB.

We have previous for this - abstract team selections so we can shoehorn players into the team.

I don’t get this Ashton to bench...he shouldn’t have been anywhere near the bench. It’s either Ratchford or Ashton starting but now both.
That bench technically was the same as having 1 forward. Because Austin had taken the 13 spot. So if we’d have started BMM at 13 then Austin would have been the bench. Meaning we had only Philbin who plays prop as an interchange.
Once Hill and Cooper were spent, and Clark injures, we were done. If that game lasted another 20 mins, they’d have put another 20 on us.

Hands up all those who derided Tony Smith for not having a back on the bench in the Wigan GF.

It's academic anyway. If that 17 had applied some nous and having twice engineered two score leads had applied some game management, we'd have won.

Spot on.

We had 17 professional rugby league players out there and they have all played in the rain before - incorrect team choice or not, they should have played smarter. Well done Salford...

If Price had left Ashton out and we had lost then people would be asking why after a great start to his career did he get dropped.

Remember how the story on Penny was that Cullen/TS destroyed him by dropping him.

What sort of message would it give Ashton about the confidence the club has in him if Price says "there's a bit of rain around, I don't trust you in these conditions".

If Austin hadn't kicked out on the full near the end there's a 90% chance we win that game.

All the post-mortem examination of this and that team selection and ultimately it comes to small margins about what happened on the field.

Price clearly picked the wrong team. Ashton out of his depth and has lots to learn. On the coaching front I have long questioned the role of Briers. As said earlier we do not owe him a living and just wonder why he has never gone for any top job (as far as we know) where life is more precarious. Robinson has made it clear he feels ready for the job at Huddersfield and Agar has taken the plunge at a big club. I wish them both well. .



s

I think fans can rightly criticise a head coach simply because he is responsible for winning games, motivating the players, and deciding the tactics. If any of that is clearly going wrong the buck stops at the coach and eventually he gets the sack.

Trouble is, we don't know exactly what Briers does. We don't know if the kids love training with him, whether he contributes to the match tactics, whether he studies matches to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, whether he turns up an hour early or bunks off in the afternoon for a pint. We don't know if he would like to move on and get a head coach job or whether the club is desperately hanging on to him. The only thing we really know is that he has a shockingly bad beard and looks like someone from the gold rush era.

Think he is to busy working on that beard.

The conditions weren’t just “wet” I can’t remember when I last saw a game played where it rained so hard PLUS the wind at that strength.
I do remember a game against Wigan where it rained a lot and almost every tackle saw the ball dislodged.
I actually think it was a credit to both teams that there was so few spilled balls.
I know the conditions weren’t quite as bad for Leeds, but that was an exceptional display of rugby in the conditions and perhaps disguised how bad the conditions were.

I remember going to one of our last games at Knowsley Road and getting all nostalgic about the old stadiums - and then it started raining. I was in the stands, but they provided no cover whatsoever and after 80 mins of monsoon type conditions I was completely soaked. I suspect it was also one of those 79th minute wins by Stains but as my glasses were steamed up, I missed most of the action. The moral of this story - dont book your summer holidays in St Helen's.