Given how the fringe players played recently I would be confident that several of Robson (in particular), Latu, Kibula, Doro, Longstaff, Johnson and Brand would do a good job in the 17. (Not forgetting Patton).
Danny Walker has finally shown me why he's rated by the club - particularly last week.
I do think Cooper needs a rest as he's been simply phenomenal in the last 3 games but it will take it's toll - whether that's against Salford or in an earlier match.

Any body know why Clarke was off the pitch for so long (by his standards)?

Yep, full strength vs Catalan, a win vs them will do wonders for our top 4 hopes, they are in 5th, but as they have played fewer games a win for them will give them a better improvement in win %.

Then big squad rotation vs Salford, chances are Salford will do the same thing, their top 4 hopes must be out of the window, so it’s challenge cup or bust for them.

The likes of Thewlis, Sita, Latu, Robson, Longstaff, Riley Dean, Patton etc should all play.

I recall we had a game against Wigan prior to the 90 cup final, where both teams fielded a lot of their reserves, and I can see a similar thing happening with Salford.

We cant afford to underestimate Salford. Remember the Saints fans delight when they drew Catalans in the semi a couple of years ago. Look what happened in that match (and of course to us in the final)

Just imagine we get through to the final. Our two games prior to the final are ... Wigan and Leeds (3 days before). Mind you ... dates do change.
Blimey.
BTW ... there is no way will underestimate anyone.

Perhaps there is a case with increased frequency of games & the faster pace of the scrum free games for increasing the number of substitutions allowed & possibly more players on the bench. It would be a shame to sacrifice competitive spectacles for the sake of sticking to last year's subs rules.

Salford have a really thin squad with little opportunity to rotate.

Don't think they have an academy squad let alone a reserves squad to pick from.

I was out yesterday (unfortunately) watching the football with a group of mates all Salford fans they were very happy with the draw. Definitely still living on last years results

I would imagine that, with a new baby in the household, he's perhaps not at his freshest. Walker was doing a decent enough job so every minute spent off the pitch is money in the bank in preparation for the back end of the season.

Cooper needs to play less minutes during the next few weeks.

If anything I think Salford are stronger this season (especially the backs) than last season with Sarginson & Watkins etc. They will miss Evalds though.

Based on what we have seen after the re start we should have more then enough to rotate the squad for these two games.

If we want to be seriously mentioned as genuine finalists for both finals we need to be winning both for me come the CC game we will have played 13 games if we can look to win both games we would be sitting at a 76.92% win percentage and only 2 games to play for our total to qualify us for a chance at the top 4 Play best side for Catalans rotate for Salford in the league and then go again best team for the cup.

Big thing I can see this year is our D has very aggressive and we are still scratching at the surface on our A not a bad place to be in credit to the coaching staff...

I believe that if we win 12 games we are more -or-less guaranteed top-four finish. As the semis will be at neutral grounds that's all you need to achieve, no need to bust a gut to get top spot.

Still be nice to hit the business end with form though. i wouldn't want us to take our foot off the gas just because we where guaranteed a top 4 spot. Least we can try and be clever about it especially when the 2 games a week come into it.

Salford can’t rotate. We get our fringe to give them a muscle match, then we flog them fatigued with the strong line up in the CC.
That was pretty much what we saw with pie vs Dull, and specifically Leeds and Cas. Cas were absolutely shot after their epic effort vs Wire. Wire effectively gift wrapped a semi spot for Leeds, as we did a couple of seasons ago, giving Catalans a CC final spot after burning Saints first team engine to empty the week before that game.

Agree with the folk who say Salford should not be underestimated. As Tiger Ninestein use to say, "expect the unexpected".