Good to get the 2pts with a scratchy performance not helped by the spoiling tactics from Salford and a shocking ref.
Thought Connor stepped up in the absence of Sneyd & Griffin seems to be getting better every game.

Scratchy tonight. Too many errors, missed tackles and penalties again. Thankfully salford were even worse but the 2 points is all that matters.

Connor and Griffin the pick of the bunch for me and Thompson went well from the bench

Enjoyable game, both sides came to play but looked jaded, unsurprisingly. Important couple of points. On we go.

lui was class for salford tonight, that inside ball to evans was a beauty

chalk n cheese from us tonight, but a win is a win

less said about the officials the better, 2 maybe 3 yellow card incidents against welham (twice0) and kopczak bottled by smith

Tend to agree about the referee. As you say bottled a couple of decisions but stark contrast with Bentham and didn't really police the 10.

These inexperienced ref try to exert authority by constantly blowing the whistle whereas the more experienced ones have the brains to let the games flow and penalise where it really makes a difference and the players respect it and respond. Isn't the one tonight the one who was fast tracked? He was really awful tonight and out of his depth

Indeed, he was woeful, the game is less of a spectacle because of the standard of officials. It's all well and good bleating in the papers about fans getting on their back, but there is a simple remedy, officiate the game according to the rules. It's a job, some say "we wouldn't have a game without them", I'd counter that and say we have a game, despite them. With attendance costs likely to hit £30 a game in coming seasons this can't be allowed to continue. We may as well not have had touch judges (referees assistants, linesmen, call them what you want) given what has been shown in recent weeks. There were some calls last night that were, at best, dubious, and at worst, blatantly inept. Players tackled without the ball, off side at kicks, poor or no attempts to play the ball, offside at the play the ball, forward passes, the list goes on.

But what can we do about it, mobilise social media? (Do the RFL even take any note of what the paying supporters think?) The clubs, and not just FC, have largely given up commenting on the officials because the clubs get fined and nothing changes. Ranging Chase caught, again, taking drugs, he should be banned from playing full stop, but the RFL will do nothing.

What happened to team warnings, sin bin for professional fouls, head shots, constant lying on and backchat being penalised. Salford conned the referee all game last night. It was a win, but you could tell by the players at full time that they weren't happy with the performance they had put in. Play like that against Saints and Huddersfield and we'll be going to Wembley full of fear. BUT, we won, so it's a game best forgotten, save learning that we really shouldn't let the ball bounce and coming inside and leaving your wing exposed is an invite to the opposition to score.

We made Vatuvai (sp?) look good at times. (There's no doubting his ability, but he doesn't need gifts like FC gave him last night)

Interesting that one as a referee can't overule a touch judge on touch and touch in goal but overuled a ingoal judge on kick off I reckon the long touch judge (touch judge on the opposite side to the benches) has come in on the communication system and he's gone with that (ingoal judges have no communication system so not miced up) instead of the ingoal judge

The ingoal judge was a matter of a few yards away from the Salford player who caught the ball and then planted his foot and rightly signalled for the dropout. How can the ref / line judge who must have been 35-40m away from it call it better?

The usual fools near me where hurling abuse at the ingoal even though he correctly called it.

The same way an in goal judge at Leeds overruled a try when the referee was about to give a it!!?

Agreed, I would like there to be some changes for next Fridays trip to St's. Griffin has done fairly well over the last month, but for me he did himself no favours last night. Pass selection, ball retention and some iffy kicking. Granted, he rant he ball in well, but there were w few negatives too many for me. I'd like Michaels to be given the opportunity to show his worth at St's. This will mean reshuffling the back line a little. I also dont think it wold be beyond possible that Fonua sits the St's game out.

Perhaps have Connor at and Michaels on the wing?

Overall, last night, first half we let ourselves down and were lucky to be level at HT. First 20 of the second half we were very good with ball in hand.

Not going to slate the Ref, there is little point. An observation I will make is the use of the in goal officials. For large parts of the game, they are almost redundant. There is a call in the game to use the NRL 2 refs system. Could these in goal judges not be used in a similar fashion?

If fit, I'd be tempted to play Sneyd and Connor in the halves for the next 2 games.
Kelly looks battered at the moment, and we can't afford to lose him for the final.
Kelly + either Sneyd or Connor works well, so there are still good options for Wembley.

Agree crazy decision.

Griffin has done OK but is just an inprovement on what was a previous poor performance level.
Griffin for me would be better used as a bench replacement to add a bit of impact into the second row.
Connor offers a lot more as a centre both in attack and defence.
The problem is if we consider Michaels and Fonua as the first choice right side wing and centre and Sneyd/Kelly as the half backs then Connor is back to utility man fitting in to cover injuries or playing off the bench

IMO griffin deserves his place. Moving people around just to accommodate Connor in the 13 not the answer. Saying that Connor is a good player to have and any drop in form and he's in