Rowley deserves a lot of credit, he has turned Salford around in short order.

I mean if you want to give us the trophy now I'd be happy not to have to sit through 3 potentially stressful play-off games?

It's a very strange time to be a Salford fan. In 2019 there was never any expectation from the fans even though we'd gone on a great end of season run (similar to this year) as I don't think any of us genuinely expected to make the GF. This year we were written off before a ball was kicked/thrown but I was quietly confident we could make the play-off's based on our recruitment. However, I never expected some of the rugby we've played and just how good a certain Mr Croft would be (hands off in advance! ).

The problem we now have as fans is genuine belief that we have the ability to beat any team in the top 6. Saints are a shadow of themselves without any sort of backline (interesting to see what they can cobble together for the play-off's) and we've thumped Catalans twice. Hudds backline again is devoid of pace and Leeds have improved massively but, dare I say, not a team you'd fear?(famous last words!)

For me, whilst all teams in the 6 are more than capable of beating each other I'd like to avoid Wigan. With Field & French you've got ridiculous pace in the team and the ability to cover any breaks we make, whilst also posing a massive threat at the other end.
We've also got such a loose style of play that we're susceptible to a fair few intercepts and if you do that against a team with F&F in your ranks you're taking some big risks.

I'm not worried about our pack at all. They've shown they can stand up to, and dominate, much bigger packs and with Ackers and Atkin dovetailing beautifully we've got plenty of running threat at the PTB.

Based on current form etc I'd have Wigan as favourites to win the GF and probably Salford 2nd favourites. Seems crazy to even see myself write that tbh and I still think Saints will somehow manage to get 3/4 bodies back and have a massive say in things.

One thing is for sure though, whoever beats us will have to earn it as this Salford team won't roll over and have it's tummy tickled!

If Croft won MoS I don't think there would be many complaints , even with how good Field and French have been for us.

Nilled Hudds today and could win GF on that performance

A shame for them that Brodie Croft misses Saints. He is the difference maker for me, plenty of pace and loves to take on the line.

Tough ask to beat Saints at Saints in a playoff semi final.

Tough.
Not impossible.

If we can overcome Leeds then Saturday's match will be very enjoyable to watch.

Salford were pretty good today but Huddersfield were appalling. It would have to be a hell of a turnaround in the off-season for Toby King to be a success for us next year.

Excellent performance but they will need to improve next week. Brodie Croft is a terrific RL player and if there is a better Hooker in the competition than Ackers then I haven’t seen him.

Ackers was good at the DW last time, I remember. It's funny about Croft, I didn't think he was really first grade in the NRL, (compared to, say, Bevan French, Peta Hiku, Corey Thompson) but he has blossomed in SL as one of two others have done, and looks a much better player now. It'll be tough for Salford at Saints without him, but I'm sure they'd have taken that at the start of the season.

"I still think Saints will somehow manage to get 3/4 bodies back and have a massive say in things."

Yup I wrote you off!

Saints have struggled without Dodd and a number of their 1st choice backline for a while. I'm not saying anything controversial here... your back-up backs just aren't very good (even your own fans have been saying it).

With Croft in the team Salford would be underdogs next week for a number of reasons.

1) Saints have won the last 3 GF's (I won't use the phrase because it's cringey AF! )

2) Saints are this year's league leaders.

3) The game is being played at Saints where Salford haven't won in almost 40 years.

Take into account the current form of both sides and you could argue a decent case for Salford to get a result..... instead of it being the usual 95%-5% in Saints favour you could reasonably say maybe 60-40?

However, with Croft now out that's a huge loss so I expect the bookies to give Saints a reasonably comfortable handicap advantage. I'll take a 25% chance though as a Salford fan as this team has mineral and backbone aplenty and we ain't just gonna roll over and hand you your rightful GF place. The Scousers are gonna need to earn it.

Wish they were Scousers, they'd be easier to understand as opposed to the flem ridden amalgamation of dialect they use.

Seeing as you're playing Saints at Saints, I wonder if Mr Wilkin's comments will play a part in your pre-match prep.