What a top game that was!



I was dubious as to how much difference Chase would make to the team, but I thought it totally transformed us (from an attacking perspective). It took lots of pressure off Tim Smith and allowed him to play his own game and let Rangi do his "off the cuff" stuff. Chase always makes sure when he passes to a forward they are taking it on the run, which has been lacking in recent weeks and resulted in more yards in our sets. Kicking games was also improved.

Gleeson was class, Junior Sau was also impressive, will only get better as he gets fitter.

Theo looks good at hooker, think he could be a better option than tommy lee. Lee has been solid but I think we move from the ruck much quicker with Theo as his ball handling is very good and he has pace.

One player I worry about is Meli, just don't see what he brings to the team. Possibly could be ok as a centre but I think we need another dangerous winger like Johnson on the opposite wing, lack a bit of pace on that side as Sau isn't the quickest either.

I thought the Cas fans were ace, good on them. I think we need to get the marketing pushed again because home attendances are dropping every week.

Hope we can build on todays result and kick on from here.

It was a good performance by us, the lads dug in to stop a second half fightback by Cas. I honestly think the scoreline flattered them.

Tommy Lee & Theo need to be our hookers moving forward IMO, both bring different things to the game.

Chase put in a great shift & took some pressure off Smith, more than that though I think he helped boss the team a bit. He seemed to be getting a grip of the lads and bollocking them a bit - something we've needed all season I think.

Meli & Puletua were the weakest inks in the team today, need younger replacements for them by next season but that's not news to anyone.

Crowd was disappointing but I sadly expected that with the last few results. I think a lot of people got the deal for the first 3 games & were disappointed with our last 2 home performances. We need to live up to the hype before we can expect 6k and beyond every week. Cas' turnout was great on the other hand.

Very impressed today.
Agree that Theo is a better interchange hooker than Howarth,and Lee was very effective today.
Smith looked a different player with Rangi playing.
Strong defence with Tasi ,HH and Dixon outstanding.
Don't understand the criticism of Tony Puletua

Well I thought Puletea had a good game. Meli wasnt fit was he? Mullaney is looking a threat now Rangi is back. Sean Long`s involvement there for all to see. Some good stuff from Cas & a good game all round indeed.

I thought TP & Meli were average, haven't been impressed by them all season. They're not bad players at all but they are past their best. After this season I think they'll need to be replaced, that's all.

I'm not crying for their heads or anything before anyone gets upset.

Again, it was a good team performance & the lads collectively showed a lot of character in the second half.

Personally think Mullaney has been a threat all season, he must have been involved in at least 1/3 of our tries so far.

I remember being called all the names under the sun for suggesting Theo would be a good interchange hooker in preseason.

Always nice to be proved right.

Agree with all above posts.
Chase made the difference , not only in the obvious danger he presents with seemingly several options with ball in hand; (must be a nightmare to defend against ) but also in the way that lifts the whole team . Generally much quicker movement at the ruck.
Definitely like Theo as the interchange hooker, can't see Howarth now getting a look in if both Lee and Theo stay fit .

As for Cas - great turnout from fans. Carney's thighs are bigger than Junior Sau's which is saying something !
Loved the cameo Cas cats woman haranguing Childs at the scrum towards the end !

I hear you, I've said countless times that if he is good enough to be a replacement hooker in a world cup for his national side he is good enough for Salford. Going forward he adds much more than Howarth ever will.

Thought S'au looks like he wants the ball as much as possible going forward and that in defense it will take something good too run over him.

I thought TP was much more effective when on the field than McPherson who for me faces the biggest struggle to stay at the club come the end of the season.

Dixon shows what an asset he is with a fine all round performance.

Mullaney again showed he will be our best buy this season and for me did so being injured for a large part of the game.

Tasi seems not to be making the yards he was and I wonder if he needs to be taking the ball deeper to gaib greater momentum.


All in all think we saw just exactly hot much we have missed Chase so far this season, I'll be honest today was also the first time I've seen Smith justify all the hype, doubt that Smith playing better and Chase returning isn't linked.

If I could ask for a couple of things come the end of the season it would be that the Doc goes all out to bring Carney and Clarke in think they would make a massive difference to the current squad.

I think you might just get your wish with one of them.

first of all the best team won and deserved to win but for me the game was not good it was poor because of one man in the middle not just for Cas but both teams I played for 20 years and watched for 40 and Childs put the worst performance I have ever seen of a Ref. Again I will say well done best team won.

Agreed about Childs, lost count of the number of times I couldn't actually figure why he had blown for something, but then at other missed the most obvious infractions.

Hang on,that's a bit extreme.
Childs had a poor game,he's a poor ref.
He made several obvious mistakes.
But,we saw a good game of Rugby and the ref was a part of that.
I've seen far worse reffing displays over the years,today's wouldn't have made my top ten worst displays

The big clubs get all the decisions.

Can someone suggest where I can buy a new ironyometer? Mine started to get a little overheated in the first half when Cas fans were calling Salford a 's***hole', then gave up the ghost when Daryl Powell referred to that daft bint who invaded the pitch as a 'lady' in his post-match press conference.

Stay classy, Cas.

Should have mentioned earlier but after today I'm even more convinced that S'au will become a legend. The way he pumped the crowd up when we scored in the second half was there for all to see and then to milk the crowd by being the last one to go through after the final whistle and absolutely love every second of it for me just shows how he loves being at Salford and has bought into the Docs gran plan.

Thought you were deserving of the win today, we weren't at the races and Salford stayed disciplined played the percentages well. Chase gets the inevitable credit but I thought your full back was outstanding. Hansen and hock will be a handful when hock is back.

Purely hypothetical, but if signed Carney & partnered him with S'au, Hock inside them.....A crazy thought, but I think they'd run rampant & teams would have to overcompensate leaving space across the field.

It'd be good to watch anyway!

How she got all that way with no one stopping her was bewildering.... G4S eh..

just to put it in perspective, cas havn't won a game when childs has been the ref for 2 seasons. having said that you were much improved today but that is the last time i'll visit your stadium until you sort out the parking/exit issues. its past a joke now. surely there must be an easier way than what you are doing now or don't you care about the away fans experience? i read on other fans boards how bad it was but didn't believe it but it was even worse than i expected. i know about the M60 incident but we exited the other way so it wasn't that. no doubt about it away fans will just refuse to travel.

But im sure when you got to the ground today you would of saw roads and bridges being built so unless we get you in the cup it would be better next season to get to the ground

To be fair it's not Salfords fault that the travel situation is currently so bad. New options are being put in place so hopefully things should improve next season.

Just to put it into perspective, there surely can't be many people left now who don't know that it's far better to park at one of the many cheap car parks just a few minutes walk from the stadium rather than park at the stadium itself. I got a lift back from Eccles ARLFC - about 10 minutes walk - and we got away without any problem.

Putting it further into perspective, it is for this reason that I don't park near the stadium at [iany[/i away game, including (in fact [iespecially[/i) at Castleford. Have you ever wondered how long it takes to get away from Wheldon Road, when you've got a large car park with one exit, an exit that then takes you into a road full of pedestrians? It is, as you would put it, "past a joke now".

Putting it even further into perspective, the M60 - the major ringroad around the largest connurbation in the north - was closed due to a fatality. This has a knock on effect on [iall[/i roads in the area, because the traffic the M60 would normally carry has to go somewhere else. Traffic heading west from the stadium - the way you claim to have gone (?) - usually isn't too bad, but if it was, the closure of the M60 will have been the cause.

GT wrote


Well I think it is deserving of at least



TheButcher wrote


With Andrew Dixon doing well on either side of the back row what would your thoughts be on the offloading skills of Gareth Hock at loose forward,bearing in mind it may help Longy working with the half backs?

The stats for yesterday - as well as proving Adrian Morley led from the front,show Cas had more offloads.
The more ball to our half backs the better,and the more defenders deployed in the centre of the field the more scope on the outside for us.

Enjoyed a team performance for the full 80 minutes.First step on the ladder.

You will get zero sympathy around these parts, as it is your own fault to be fair.

Issues with on-site parking are not new at the stadium, it’s been well publicised since it opened. However if you choose to park on site then you must expect delays in leaving. All on site car parks are shut for 20 minutes or so after the game to allow pedestrians to exit the area. I reckon it should take from reaching your car to leaving the ground, 45 minutes max.

Next time instead of moaning about it and refusing to travel, choose your car parking position wisely. Barton Airport over the road is an option, Eccles RLFC is an option, shuttle buses from the Trafford Centre and Chill Factore are also an option.

Common sense

Much more improved performance in attack. Difficult to pin point exactly what the difference was, but obviously Rangi and Sean Long’s influence were key. Some of the sets plays were excellent yesterday with Rangi, Smith and Mullaney are combining and causing problems.


Positives.

As mentioned above, Rangi was very good. Quite a few mistakes for me but I put that down to communication/gelling issues and his natural exuberance. Gave us a good indication of what to expect once fit.

Junior Sa’u was excellent. Clearly still not match fit (I reckon he’s another 4 weeks off) but his enthusiasm was contagious at times. He made 130 metres yesterday (just 6 short of Morley who had the highest in the game) with 17 carries, which for a centre is fantastic work rate and effort. He is evidently loving his time at Salford too.

Morley rolled the years back yesterday and put in a proper prop forward performance. No surprise he was the highest metre maker with 136 and average gain of 7 metres per carry. Top performance.

Jake Mullaney was outstanding in attack, again. He looks a genuine threat every time he links up into the line.

McPherson had his best game in a Salford shirt. Nothing special going forward, although he made hard yards but his defence was solid.


Negatives.

Scoreline flattered Castleford. We should have been out of sight and won the game by 20 points. The clinical nature of our game will come in time though.

Defence was still poor at times. What happened after Tim Smith conceded the penalty and the whole team turned their backs? Amateur stuff.

James Child. Before any Cas fans start, the penalty count was 11-11.

The Salford fan who fell flat on his face in the South Stand celebrating after the game.


You couldn’t not be happy with yesterday though. It was a sharp increase in performance from the previous games. We’re still a long way away from the finishing product, but if we can continue to build on that performance and get Hock and Griffin back fit we should start to make waves.

Full credit to the team and coaching staff. They were rightly and fairly criticised last week, but proved a point yesterday.