A ball handling loose forward of the old style? I wish we had one !

Sorry but great looking squad? I beg to differ. I think you’re seeing names and to be fair the first 15 look ok but hardly exceptional.

What you need to remember is that Salford has had the exact opposite three seasons to ourselves. They have suffered very few injuries and have not had their squad depth seriously tested.

This is a threadbare club that runs no Academy or reserves, they invest all they have in the first 17. Should that fail they have no backup either in terms of young players or money.

Maybe their luck will hold who knows but for me they are the worst club in the comp at every level at present. they remind me a bit of us in our early SL years but minus the trickle of youngsters.

If their luck fails them they probably won’t make it until the end of the season. I also can’t see all the on the cusp Aussies they have signed being of the dig deep variety.

Finally are they better than us? On paper no not if we remain fit. In reality, who knows, it’s impossible to predict, nobody in 2003 thought that the following year we’d become one of the best teams in SL. In 2015 I think we’d hit rock bottom, the next three seasons were IMO our best and most consistent in SL.

There are so many factors but the two that count are the four main signings, Hood, Lineman, Gaskell and Whitebread. They could all be duds but they could all be brilliant. Even more important is getting the quality we already have, which is considerable, back on form. I think Boxing Day showed we now have the depth.

PS: Not having a go but be honest. If you woke up tomorrow morning and Salfords squad was now our squad what would be the first thing you'd post? You'd be worried about our total lack of depth and for once I'd agree with you.

Nah not for me not on this one.

Anyway even if he isn’t as fast as you’d like would it matter? There is such a shortage of his type of HB he’d still have it all to himself rather than be lost in a see of identification LF’s.

Nigel Wright wasn’t fast and today I suspect he’d be earmarked for LF, what a waste that would have been. He also apparently had the build, turned out looks can be deceiving.

No wrong again you know sweet fa about trinity Nigel wright had speed ,build and a brilliant pair of hands(apparently) you’ve never seen him play have you ,ahhhhhhh what a joke

What in gods meme are you on about.

Never seen him play, I used to stand with him on the North bank before he broke through and followed his career til the end,. He is one of my all time favourites.

I have to ask if you ever read any bodies posts or just react like an idiot.

Of course he had the build and the hands where did I ever say he didn’t! In fact that was exactly what I did say.

What he didn’t have was the speed of some of his contemporaries like say Steadman. He was no slouch by any stretch but it was not speed that made him such a great player.

You need to go away and grow up a bit mentally and then you might one day make a worthwhile post.

For me I don't really pay attention to the league table and take each game as it comes. I find that way the games far more enjoyable and each and every one is as important as the other.

Having said that, I am surprised that the first game hasn't been touted as a must win yet by our very own long distance supporter.

Agreed, the only time I take notice of the league is when we are too close to the bottom or much rarer close to the top. Otherwise who cares so long as we win more than we lose and we entertain.

I think I post this same comment every year:
I love the close season because it's generally full of optimism and positivity. Then along comes the playing season and it's another year of stress and worry until we are mathematically safe from the drop.

Poching seems happy with your squad depth https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... the-future

Poching seems happy with your squad depth https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... the-future

A good player in whatever position is as crucial as every other one. In fact, I'll go further and say a ball-playing loose forward is the least important position.

Better than a gifted full-back, when they are often the difference in attack between two well-matched sides?
More crucial than a good half-back or hooker?
Better than a gifted second-rower making hay down the flanks, like Solomona?
More crucial than a centre with vision alongside a winger with speed and finishing?
More crucial than a barnstorming, tough-tackling prop?

I'd say a ball-handling loose forward is the least important. They won't create a strong pack out a weak pack and they won't have the vision of a wily half-back. I can't recall ever leaving a game and thinking, "if only we had a ball-playing loose forward". I've left plenty thinking, "our half-backs went missing today" or "our props aren't big enough" or "is he really our best full-back?"

Sinfield is probably the recent exception in terms of making a side, but he played plenty of games at half-back and his strength was his kicking game, not his ball-handling.

As for speed, not crucial for a half-back if they have the hands, feet and vision.

Well slugger I’ll have to disagree on a few points .Danny Brough was as good a half back as anywhere in the league until he lost a yard of pace at the back end of his stint with us ,head could do it but the legs couldn’t ,can’t beat pace I’m afraid ,especially in the half’s n hookers.Westerman at times was head and shoulders our best player on the field at loose forward this last season and will be missed , that magic triangle with the half’s ,get that right and your going places .just look back at your sculthorpe,Farrell combinations ,world class . But you certainly need a decent squad around these players to take advantage and it’s certainly not a cert at getting that combination right and that’s where the coach earns his coin for me .For me I’m interested who will partner hood and who gets the loose forwards birth ,the rest have picked themselves.

Tend to agree. It’s just my opinion but I think a lot of people are living in the past looking for a game that doesn’t exist.

So I’ll go even further than you, I don’t think the position of LF exists anymore or at least not in the sense that some think.

I don’t even think I’m being radical, if you listen to the coaches they are telling us, or the smart one are.

As far as I can see there are only two kinds of forward. Middles, basically props and the more straight up SR’s and wide players.

Hookers, SH’s and SO’s are virtually indistinguishable and will often swap rolls as the game demands. Wingers and FB’s are another.

For me only centres seem to have a truly specialist roll anymore.

This imho is due to three things. A distinct lack of talent, especially creative and big lads with heart. Cost of a quality squad of over 30 players and as yet no reserve comp to pick from, this is changing I know. Injuries, in the old days tough men who needed the money often played half there careers with injuries that should have retired them, now we don’t play injured players.

The latter is the right thing to do but it comes with a huge cost. What other industry can afford an asset like Tupou sat on the bench for over a year. In a normal industry he’d be shipped out and replaced with new. This is effectively what used to happen until proper contract became enforced.

As I say the right thing to do but in financial and playing terms it’s a huge burden.

Hence the aim to slim down speciality players with multiple-roll players. You can bemoan the lack of these players all you want but they are a luxury and most clubs can only afford a few.

That’s how I see it and that’s how any coach of a smaller club has to see it. So for me we persevere with players like Abrahams in the hope that we manage to produce the sort of player we can’t afford to buy.

Just my opinion

Sinfield, O’Loughlin, Farrell, Sculthorpe, Hanley.

All revered as outstanding players.

All ball handling 13’s.

To me a ball handing 13 is one that does all of the above, he tends to be the complete play hence the reason all the above lads played multiple positions and played them at fantastic level.

Westerman when he joined us added a different dimension to how we played. He created a link between the backs and forwards which had been missing and this is exactly what a good ball handing 13 does.

Sadly it’s an art which is very much on an outer. I think Westerman is probably the only one that remains in SL. The tendency to run with a 3rd prop at 13 is one that is for me a very negative tactic.

In relation to Charlie he seems to play as a strike half from what I have seen on him, like Miller. Strike halves generally rely on having a bit of pace. I agree in some circumstances halves can rely on other aspects of their game such as Liam Finn for example who was the midfield general who guided us round the park and complimented Miller so well, leaving him to play that strike role.

For me the young lad lacks the pace to be a strike half but he has the pace, potential and frame on which to develop into a very good 13.

It’s all immaterial, and I don’t mean any disrespect to the young man with my comments. Ultimately he is another good young player coming through the ranks of what is becoming a very successful development pathway at the club and I’ve no doubt the club will do what is best for him in regards to nurturing his talent.