Mate, if you're talking about RedVee then I'd pay it little regard. I'm sure some on there think every Wigan player is 'Poundland' version of their equivalent, including Jai Field

Regarding Smithies; I think he is better than Knowles at a similar age as I've said elsewhere. That's not to say it's some glaring chasm or anything... we're talking small margins. I'm sure that Saints fans would probably disagree and that's fine too.

They are both workhorse type players (and I say that in its most positive sense) in a similar way to, say, Mick Cassidy was. I doubt either will ever take a game by the scruff of the neck in the way that a Sculthorpe, Farrell or O'Loughlin could but that's not to devalue their contributions in any way.

As you say, Smithies needs to continue this trajectory. It'll matter little if he was or wasn't better at 21 if he plateaus and doesn't go on to fulfill that potential as Knowles has.

Down with this sort of thing!

I’m bringing it up because he was absolutely goosed after 5 minutes, nobody else was like that and most had played more than Mago in the 2 games last week. I really like him with the ball in his hand, he’s hard to take down, makes good yards and is always looking for the opportunity too offload but he needs to be fit enough to do more minutes at a higher intensity imo.

Byrne and Smithies have taken big leaps forward this year.

Yes they gave. I was unconvinced about both last year, but they are really coming on.

Yeah, Iv always thought Byrne had big potential just down to his size, his handling was a bit suspect but he seems to have sorted that. I thought Smithies and Partington both had great intensity and tackling machines but lacking size and punch in attack but Smithies has started putting up decent numbers in attack now, just hope Partington can do the same.

That would be an ecumenical matter

Then I would argue he should have been rested and probably would have been had Singleton not been carrying a knock.

You say that most had played more than Mago. Which props are these? Ellis has just had weeks out, Havard has only recently come back in the side and Partington was rested last game. Only Byrne can lay claim to playing as much as Mago and he was less effective than Mago according to the stats above.

I get what you're saying but I really feel placing this importance on minutes played is completely missing the point. In a five prop rotation each one has to play 32 minutes. If Mago only does half an hour then the others have to facilitate this by doing an extra 30 seconds apiece. If he only does 26 they have to do 90 seconds extra each. We have 4 'long minute' props take the field alongside Mago every week so playing 33 1/2 minutes each isn't going to be an issue.

Sure, there'll be times when he needs to do longer, to cover for in game injuries or lack of options coming into a game but he'll hardly be asked to do that on the back of 3 games in a week. Besides which, he did 46 minutes on Easter Monday (his 2nd game in 3 days) so he's clearly capable when it's absolutely necessary.

The focus for Mago should be getting the best out of him when he's on the field. I'm not arguing that this shouldn't take into consideration increased fitness..of course it should...but this obsession with playing long minutes is misplaced. Moreso when using his 3rd game in a week as some kind of yardstick.

Admittedly didn't see much of him on Sunday but I think his fitness has noticeably improved over the last few weeks and Iv been as big of a critic of his conditioning as anyone. He was left out there for 25 minutes in the 2nd half against Wakefield when the game was already won and he coped OK. If he'd have been asked to do that at the start of the year he'd have probably collapsed.

Byrne has stepped up this year.

Havard his usual self

Smithies has stepped up as well and he was involved in one of our try’s against Salford potentially two.

Partington should be shown the door. He’s just not big enough to be a prop forward. He has great intensity in defence and is super league standard but that’s at a club like Salford IMO.

It wasn’t just the minutes, it was the lack of carries, not being in the defensive line and being carried from that sense and honestly looking like he was going to pass out after 5 minutes.
I’m not a negative fan/poster you can check my history and see I’m very much glass half full but from what I saw from Mago on Sunday (I’m sure the schedule didn’t help) I’d expect more from a professional sportsman and I think he could do with a rest this week going off that. I’m not expecting massive minutes because we have forwards who can help take the slack with that but we should be expecting a decent amount of carries and yards because he’s not like some of our other props who put up big defensive efforts.

I watched the game on TV yesterday, and his lack of play with the ball (start of 2nd half) was due to Salford starting the half well and keeping the ball. It reminded me in a way of how sides took Feka out of the game, run at him in defence and tire him out, so he is less effective with ball in hand.
In the 1st half when he came on he took in some good drives and caused Salford problems, 2nd half i think he only took it in once, but was made to work in defence. Whether that was good management / play on Salfords behalf, or just the way the 2nd half panned out, i'm not sure, but he certainly wasnt as effective as his stint in the 1st half

Mago is a luxury player from the bench that I think we can afford because of grafters like Ellis, Singleton and Byrne. There will be games where you look and say he’s not been involved enough but there will be games like Leeds at home and Wakey away in the cup where he throws up some wow moments. The Good Friday game didn’t work out at all for him in terms of the flow of it when he was on but there’s nothing to say he doesn’t come on in the semi final and helps crack them open.

I don’t think he’s come here for any sort of holiday. To the naked eye he looks in better shape than last season in terms of the weight he’s carrying. I just think we’re using him in a certain way but after us being so poor last season in attack and us being so easy to handle through the middle, I’m happy to have the guy as an option to bring from the bench and potentially break teams open for us.

No disrespect to the grafters that you mention, but if Mago is a luxury player then we need more from them. I've been massively impressed with Ellis and I'm a big believer in the potential of Byrne. Not sold on Singo, despite others saying he's playing well or I should say I don't think he warrants being our most experienced prop.