A view from a Salford fan about our game
As a Salford I know other fans do not want to listen to us
And that is your problem
However our game requires changes
The game is now harder, and two games over Easter is too much for the players.
Following that up with the a cup tie is a again to much for the players
The fixture list require looking at
Why Magic weekend so we get 23 league games, and in the play-off 3 or 4 home games, why not kick off the play offs with the magic weekend

Is two games over Easter really too much for the players? Have you asked them all?

Didn't Cam Smith and probably a few others last year play Origin mid-week and then a club game 2 or 3 days later without complaining much.

Maybe if you had a bigger squad you could rotate some of your unfit players? Or maybe condition them better?

And Magic Weekend can not be that late in the season due to the football season.

I like the Easter period. It's something different and requires something different from both coaches and players. It can only be done as a one off in the season though.

I don't see what relevance the following week being a cup tie has. If anything it was easier opposition than a regular league game.

Ideally the Magic Weekend could be the "extra" fixture in the playoffs. However you'd then have all the major domestic RL events of the Cup semis, Cup Final, Magic Weekend & Grand Final all within a few weeks of each other. So I don't mind the Magic Weekend as an extra fixture in the summer.

Some clubs just need a larger squad and need to manage the players they have in a more professional fashion.

Hello Marwan.

Yes, we all need to listen to the Salford fans.

Both of them.

Some of the most intense games ive seen over the past 12 years have been in the state of origin series. The players mostly will play club rugby 2-4 days either side of these midweek games, which are usually more intense then most club rugby. 3 times a season. Easter is once a season in a competition not as competative as nrl. I know its only a small percentage of each team that plays these 3 games in a week, but its usually each sides best players that do it. If you want to be top you have to go the extra mile, so these players set an example of what other players should strive to be like. If theyre fit enough to do it why arent the others

I think the easiest option would be to reshuffle the CC so the final is in May. That way the MW could go in the S8 phase without all the big events happening at the same time.

Those poor SL players having to play a couple of games in short time. Recently Workington's part time players had to play 7 games in 27 days and go to work in between games. Can you imagine the complaints if some SL clubs had to do that ?! Quit moaning and get on with it.

This.

double this.

Only reason Salford struggled it because their squad is paper thin and they have thugs playing for them who like to get banned.... no other team is suffering as badly for the easter period. just another thing salford moan about not going their way....

And Workington got hammered in 4 of those 7 games. Maybe if they'd had more time to prepare and recover they'd have put in better performances.

There's a legitimate point around recovery times between games, especially at the top level where the impacts and number of them are significantly higher and so take longer to recover from. 5 days of recovery-based training is taken as the minimum needed to recover from a game now. Workington should moan about having to play that many games in a short period, but you can possibly get away with it at part time level, you can't at SL.

But players and clubs can do it as a one-off in the season, and as I said, it requires something different from the club, the players and the coaches to manage that period. Leeds did well during that period but probably suffered after it from the effort put in during the Easter period. That's why it's good, it adds something different to the league. But it can't be done more than once or twice at the top level or you put player safety at risk.

The fact you start you post with "as a Salford fan I know other fans do not want to listen to us" encapsulates the self pitying mentality that oozes from your club.

The Easter period is tough for clubs, not so much the 2 games over the bank holiday but the next game that follows. But it is pretty much a level playing field for all clubs.

No, we'll listen and give you our honest opinions......that you don't like the sound of them and we don't reply "aww poor Salford" is your problem.

Maybe we are getting sick of Salford's view!! You have a self promotional campaigner owning your club who doesn't miss any opportunity to impose his thoughts on us.

I think "impose his thoughts" is a tad harsh - nobody has to read or listen, it's not compulsory!

FWIW as another Salford fan I disagree completely with the OP. All the clubs know what's required over the Easter period and need to prepare accordingly. As it happens we had a pretty good pair of results beating Hudds & Wigan

I listened to (and believed) Iestyn Harris when he said that in his whole career he's never seen such a set of injuries within a squad over such a short time. However the killer for us really has been the suspensions which somewhat undermine the arguments from our side.

Absolutely, asking the players to play two games in four days several times a season would be too much. But the Easter calendar has evolved to be an ordeal, a test of squads and coaching abilities and I like it.

There are genuine questions about the legitimacy of the second game of the weekend as there are often sub-par performances. Should a paying crowd be subjected to two teams that aren't capable of putting 100% in?

You have all missed the point our games is faster, harder then it as ever been.
It is not just players in the last year at Salford I have seen two refs going off injured, in the other 38 years watching the game i only think this happened once.

We are not the only club to have injuries, something as to change, for the good of the game.

In the NRL over the next 3 months there will be 34 players who will back up 4 days after SoO and no disrespect to SL, but the intensity of an Origin game is far greater. If the NRL, which is the largest domestic Rugby Comp in the world and the pinnacle of our sport don't see it as a problem, then a tin-pot club with a 4k attendance average and a gobby owner have no chance.

You've been watching the game for 38 years? Your opening email reads like a 12 year old.

I'm a Salford fan (probably of the same age), we did rather well at Easter so don't know why you think that's a problem and as this has been the norm since year dot it seems a little weird that you should choose our most successful Easter in living memory to spout about it. We have been excellent this year (better than in a very, very long time) and we have been very unlucky with injuries and not unlucky by the stupidity of some of our players committing foul acts that have got big bans.

Best that you don't post as your sort of thoughts are the reason we have been getting bashed on the forum.

There is of course the chance you aren't a Salford fan, maybe a troll with little better to do that stir. I would prefer that because if you are a Salford fan you really don't do us any favours with your posts.