first time on the forum after all my years of reading the various words of wisdom from my co-fans of the greatest game and the man who drove me to it -Matt Parish. If I was a salford fan i'd be very concerned by this fellow! -who is he anyway? Discussions in the last few days have revolved around his belief that the young man Ratchford has been pinched underhandedly from his club and that Warrington represent all that is evil in the game having previously "stolen" in a similar manner Myler for mere beads and trinkets (sorry I meant £200,000!). For Matt, "loyalty" should override ambition and Stefan should have stayed put - the problem is matt highlighted that loyalty doesn't extend to himself having already announced that he's off to the NRL should the Salford job prove a successful stepping stone. Am i alone in thinking that in all this nonsensical posturing to highlight his "arrival", Matt comes across as a hypocritical muppet. By the time he's finished sadly with Salford (sorry Red Fans), his best bet i suspect will be selling Programmes at Souths matches - at least then he could watch a more successful Matt in action!!

Great post. Parish is a fool who is clearly trying to win the Salford fans over. He will contradict himself a number of times regarding his morals. The sooner he goes back to the NRLthe better. Our sport is better than this.

One question, isn't there an anti-tampering deadline of September 1st. If not when did the RFL get rid of it?

This is not a troll but a genuine question.

P.S I think Steff will be a great addition to your squad and good luck to him.

I thought there was also, but if a player is in his final year of contract, and is discussing his options with his club, then surely he must be able to listen to offers from other clubs before deciding on where to go.

What i'm getting at is that surely Salford gave us permisson to talk to and subsequently make an offer for and sign stefan.

I presume Salford must (or maybe) have given permission for him to sign but I am still on the understanding that he couldn't sign before September 1st. Before anyone says "Senior", he was released by his club and Steff is still playing at his to the end of the season.

I think it's another example of the RFL having rules in place that are not worth the paper they are written on (that's also presuming that they did write them down lol). The sooner they get rid of this absurd rule the better, players deserve to sort there futures out and fans like to know what the side will look like next year.

What you say is true mate, but has stef actually signed a contract yet? or just announced that when he can he will be signing for us? I think probably to avoid the rules etc the latter.

Louis anderson has signed for catalans already, so wouldnt the same apply there?

I agree El red,and no way do I think you are trolling which is a stupid activity on many of the messages i read, i believe there is an anti tampering deadline; however if we are completely honest I suspect every club right now is colluding with off contract players quietly agreeing playing futures post sept 1 st; it isn't uniquely a Warrington tactic. players refuse renewals of contracts and agents and clubs get together "discretely" to move forward on their clients behalf. Salford as well as all other clubs right now will be negotiating with players in a very similar manner. The rugby papers are full of transfer rumours which we buy precisely to give us fans, hopes for the following season. Maybe the deadline should be revisited, however in this particular case it was Matt the sanctimonious whom disclosed the destination in advance of Warrington or Stefan in advance of the date I suspect hastening the overall process

Steve Anderson?

Matt i suspect is full of "hot air" which he is generating through these tactics to compensate Reds fans(and they do deserve better than this) for the clubs failure to bring home a coach of some standing. Nobody had heard of him when he arrived (and I accept there are good surprises for some clubs such as Michael Maguire). Most people are now catching on there is an air about him but it has nothing to do with coaching so far. To be fair, lets give him 12 months , although I suspect that after that and these efforts to galvanise the fanbase, he won't be so much wiping his feet on the way out as by then he will be literally "flying through the door!"

Parish will come a cropper, its all very new at the moment but he'll quickly find out that he will be losing good players and be expected to replace them with something not quite as good.

The new stadium will bring added pressure and I suspect he will last til the end of 2012 at best.

Surely he understands that one of the consequences of the salary cap is that if you bring through too many quality players, then some inevitably will end up leaving. All of the top clubs have suffered this....look at Saints being unable to keep Graham and Eastmond.

The Australian mentality is that if you lose a player that opens the door to one of your Academy players who might be even better, so surely this will be the mentality that Parish has brought from the NRL.

I think it was pretty poor that he blabbed about Ratchford before Wire had confirmed it. Bad form, that.

Matt Parish has no class whatsoever.