I think our areas of improvement need to come from:
creative roles within the team (1, 6,7,9)
pack leader, i.e. a big powerful experience prop

Tomkins will provide the 'x factor' from the back, he has to be played at FB. No one else in our team can come close to Sam, he needs to be played at FB given a free role to attack either flank running out wide either attacking the line or setting up his outside backs. At half back you're looking for someone to 'set up' other players/ball runners as a play maker, often only operating on one side of the pitch.

Who should be in the halves? Williams will come good. He's young, will attack the line and has a quick step. Smith, questionable. He's a good player but is he good enough? That's the debate. Hampshire? I don't get the hype to be honest, not in the senior team at least, if he would have impressed massively he wouldn't be bench warming at Cas.

I like Micky as a player, never been sold on him as a 9 though. I think he'd be a good 13, hardworking tackling machine and enforcer.

Tomkins
Charnley (although his 'facial injury' is an odd one') Sarge Gelling Manfredi
Williams (NEW 7)
Flower (NEW 9) Lockers
Bateman Faz
Micky
-----------------------------
NEW INTERCHANGE 9 NEW EXPERIENCE PROP Clubb, J Tomkins

I agree with you 100%
I hope that Sam plays at 6 going forward rather than 1
Although there's not too much difference offensively i don't think Sam is the best option at the back and would love to see Manfredi given a run there to see how he adapts

When Sam is fit Waney will put him straight back in at full back no matter how good Tierney is playing. Lewis will then be reserve wingman/full back.
Better with Lockers at 13 and it was good that Powell played the full first 40 mins.

Our attack didn't look great at times but this Salford are not the outfit we are used to. These past few years they've been a shambles but are quite the opposite now.
Having Sheens as coach is worth every penny he is being paid. They are very structured and have some good attacking ideas. Sheens has, IMO, made a very good signing in Lui.

It might be a bit early but I reckon Salford will make the top eight easily if just miss out on the top four.

Their squad depth is poor though. Other than their first 17-19 players, they are unknowns. Time will tell if/when they start getting injuries/fitness concerns and have to start playing these untested reserves. I can see them being 6-8th at the end of the season.

I would expect George Williams to suffer a loss of form in his second season. It is only to be expected. Matty Smith is the organiser and in play kicker and therefore cannot be moved to hooker.

For me, I've always felt that Sam is going to be a Stand Off in the long term. Plenty of the x-factor in Sam.

I agree with the poster who suggests Dom Manfredi at full back. This guy is special. But for now, I'm happy to see Lewis Tierney prove us all wrong for some time to come.

But he goes missing time after time, doesn't have game breaking ability and can be very suspect in defence. Smith has days when doing the basics well really helps us win games but they are too few and far between IMO, far more often he will fade into the background. I'd definitely be looking to give Williams more responsibility with regards to organisation and kicking and have Tomkins playing off him. Having Smith on the bench gives us an option if GW/ST is having an off day or we need to close out an ugly win in poor conditions (having said that, him not demanding the ball and taking a shot at the DG v Catalans and Huddersfield hardly filled me with confidence). Otherwise he can spell MM and likely do so more competently than Powell tends to.

I follow us home and away as I've no doubt you do as well Grimmy. I think we'll have to agree to differ. My view (and I realise I'm in the minority on here) is that Matty NEVER hides or fades into the background. He takes the ball right up to the line every time. Contrast that with Walsh at Saints. Matty's kicking is superior to anyone at the club. Providing the forwards do their job his kicking for field position is better than Williams, Hampshire, Powell or anyone else you care to name.

I'll admit that he's not perfect (who is?) but his is severely underrated by Wigan fans. I suspect he's one of those players who you miss when he's not there. He's not flashy but he does his job well. The Stand Off (Williams or Tomkins) can add the running - that's what makes a partnership. How many times do you see Thurston break the line? (I'd say Matty is a poor man's Thurston if you like) But it's not necessary, if your Stand Off can break the line.

Not to mention his non-existent passing game. How can someone that has played 7 internationally not be able to pass? It's unbelievable.

And to play devils advocate to th Manfredi to 1 posts, I think we need him out wide with his ruthless finishing ability. Some of the tries he scores most of the wingers in SL wouldn't be able to do never mind Tierney or Gildart.

Jeff Robson might be a better comparison.

And Thurston does take on the line, quite often.Surely half the point of being a half-back is that you come to the line, ansd you have three options: pass, run or kick. If you occasionally try all three, you keep defences guessing. If you always do the same thing...

Think the difference is Thurston has the best passing game Ive ever seen! I cant remember the last time Matty smith threw as 30 yard pass or put someone clean threw a hole where the overlap wasnt already there for the taking
When youve got a player like that you can afford to have someone to do the running for hime like Morgan does

Thurston is one of the all time greats, he's a very, very special player indeed.

Not sure it's fair to be mentioning Thurston in a discussion about Matty Smith....

I think that not having Blake Green in the side for the last year and a bit has severely exposed Matty Smith's shortcomings as a player. Whilst he generally has a great in-play kicking game, his pace is sorely lacking for a half back and his passing is sometimes woeful. I've often found him to be ball greedy in attack in trying to score tries himself whilst ignoring the easy pass option. That being said, I don't think moving him to hooker would be the best option as a stop-gap while MM is out but would be interested to see how Williams and Tomkins went at 6 & 7.

I just don't think he's good enough for Wigan, period.

And I don't think that comparing him to Thurston helps his case at all.

Smith may have similar physical characteristics to Thurston, but that's where it ends. There is absolutey no comparison beyond that. Thurston is a global star, while Smith is a journeyman who is holding Wigan back.

Like it or not Matty is the current Wigan and England Scrum Half. Comparisons with Thurston may be unfair but Thurston doesn't break the line and he doesn't do 30 yard passes either. He guides the team around the field like Matty does. Matty's range of passing isn't close to Thurston's of course and his kicking is nowhere near as accurate either but he gets the job done with no fuss.

I always find it hilarious that the posters on here seem to think they know better than the Wigan and England coaches. A bit of humility might be in order boys and girls.