Anyone else thought we looked better with Mickey Higham on instead of Clark?

Like Patrick Ah vans only worse.....

The only thing Patterson had today was permission from Silverwood to act like an A-hole without repercussion. I spotted at least 2 shoulder charges that were not even pulled up for a penalty and he was always niggling in the tackle but that's what happens when you are coached by Harris who has watched Wane's sheeeeitehouse tactics for the last few years.

That's a great result, today.
Superb from Ratchford. At times, he got some shocking passes given to him, yet still managed to stick his arm behind him, control the ball, and then give a great pass. Cleared his line well, and made some eyecatching breaks. A deserved MoM for me

WtF's going with our publicity/marketing department. I went to bed last night, and there was no breaking on the 'net. Woke up, and checked BBC Sports website, and nothing publicised. Played golf, came home and checked the net again. Still no mention. Go to the match, and we've got the new Eric Grothe on the wing. Our media department want sacking for not announcing this new appointment. Well played, Eric. At least I never came on these boards slagging you off. SUPERB.

Can Westwood be banned?. As far as I remember, the incident wasn't put on report, and was dealt with a yellow card. Can they punish him again? If they can, will Wigan's Smith get retrospective action for his petulance on Thursday? Wont be holding my breath, though.

Solid but not spectacular from Clark
Solid and some good offloads from Sims. He did well to hold his temper after obvious provocation.
Half decent from Asotasi.
Some strength at times from Atkins.
I'm a happy boy. So much better than this time last year

That Patterson geezer should concentrate on his own game, rather than trying to wind the world up. He showed some good touches down the centre. Was expecting a lot more from Dobson. Never seen a side drop as much ball in dry conditions as Salford did, today. Marwan would've been throwing cups in the dressing room, when he was doing his coach's summing up to his players.

I must admit, watching Patterson today I thought they'd signed Hock and his more stupid brother.

Kevin Penny, quality from Swinton Lions, what did you expect. Wish Kevin every success in SL.

I to thought higham to was the better of the hookers and injected some pace into our attack.
Patterson was a bit of knob. Thought rangi chase was their most dangerous player and looked good.
I think Salford will beat saints next week judging by today's performance and seeing saints on sky yesterday.

There's real competition for places with Bridge, Russell, England, B Evans and Grix not playing today. I'm really optimistic about this season- a good solid win.

Some judging Clark for all the wrong reasons on here tonight....

Clark played from the start when Salford were at there fittest.
They were beginning to tire in the last 12 mins.
That is why Higham stood out more, but Clark was very busy against a rigorous defence in that early quarter.
He had his hands on almost every play.
His work load was by and large more than any other player for nearly 30mins and he was doing a lots of tackling as a forward would.

I don't think Higham would have put a shift in like Clark did with him dropping the odd ball with fatigue.

You have to look at the woods beyond the trees.

A bit controversial here.
I could only listen to the first half on Wire FM, but it certainly seemed like Sims was trying to play up to an 'enforcer' role with a few late and cheap shots himself - the first one on Paterson after about a minute. Looks like he wanted to stamp his authority. I wasn't too impressed by that.
From what I heard it seemed like Sims got dumped on his buma couple of times.

Salford seemed to have the best of the first 20 mins and we appeared to be lucky not to have conceded.
Sounds like some of our passes were a bit off, but I wouldn't expert much else given it's the first game.

Good to hear how well Kevin Penny played.

Anyway 2 points is 2 points.

Salford will take a few games to get into it because you can't have a virtually new team and expect it to gel from day one.

Regardless of how good Clark is, we'll miss Monas at hooker.

Considering all the high tackles that Salford put in, & only had a man sent off after a team warning, I thought it was a bit rich that Silverwood had no hesitation in binning Westwood for his careless tackle.Once more offside at the ptb was ignored & the ref didn't even punish the shoulder charge on GOB by the Salford number 12.
Was that Mr K in the Fancy dress devil costume ?



All in all a very entertaining game.

The first 20 for Salford was to niggle and cheap shot. What started the Sims nonsense was Patterson taking exception to Sims standing up for himself and his team mates. Sims did nothing dirty nothing cheap but just stood up and took everything they gave him like a man and like a Real pro....it was the best prop forward Debut Ive seen.

the fact they couldnt hurt him and rile him got up their noses all the more. Westwood might get the headlines for his high shot, but it has to be said it was after prettty much a team full of high shots from Salford. the particularly cowdarly high shot and elbow drop by Weller huaraki on the five stone lighter Gareth Obrien being one of the worst.

There was so much to despise about Salford today...even Morley got wrapped up in the niggle and it cost his side a try. After messing around with Asotasi of all people, Higham just picked up the ball and scooted through the gap.

I would start thinking about playing The Salford Wigan game in a cage it has the potential to be a shocker.

but so many positives right across the board for Wire today.......

Not dissing Clark at all, he had a good game and he would have been marked as well like Simms. I missed the first few mins so missed simms manoeuvre on Patterson but it looked like Patterson had it in for him.

A good solid 2 points against a good man for man side who'll be pushing for a top 4 spot.

Monas as well will be really missed.

The South West side was fairly loud to me.

I got there late so just got last min tickets for north west. I normally go in the south stand but was located 20m away from the away stand so it's obviously easier to hear the salford fans. Yes southeast was definitely more vocal but I was looking forward to hearing the whole south stand singing oh warri warri from the position I was in and nothing seemed to get going across the stand. Really chuffed with the attendance though. Salford brought a good few and wire sections were well filled.

Atmosphere at the game is not for the want of trying. Lots of us try to get things going but when some around you are stood in silence not joining in, it's hard to spread to those who want to join in. Easy solution; stand in the SW corner if you want to sing. It'll soon spread!

Was impressed with Sims not rising to Paterson's bait, as he had every right to. If my eyes didn't decieve me there was a moment very early on when Corey pulled his hair and actually had his hands round his neck.

I normally try and do. I know what you mean as well. I remember being at the gf v wigan in wire end behind the goal line and as wigan came back, our fans did nothing to lift the players. I stood up a few times and tried to get things going (I'd had few) and no-one seemed to be be bothered about lifting the team. I ended up sing/shouting "sit down if you can't be d" and everyone was still sat down. We've been spoilt over the past few years with top notch rugby and i wouldn't swap it for anything.. Apart from the buzz I used to have when all the wire fans lit up wherever with great passion and support. I used to love that as much as when played well. Going home in the coaches in the 90s, even if we lost didn't seem that bad as we'd often out sung and out passioned the opposing fans.
Anyway, great attendance today and great start. Nothing's perfect, but I'm happy and confident were going really going to do something special this season.

I didn't see very much creative football from Messrs Myler and O"Brian.
We lacked a presence until late in the 1st half when Ratchford pushed up.
Then bang! Myler goes in off him.
Unpopular it may be with some, but if we want to make the most of our depth one of them must make way for a footballer, either Bridge, Wheeler or Ratchford.

Penny was terrific. Shove that haters.

Who was the guy that used the number of tries scored against us down Pennys wing v's the other wing as some kind of talent indicator???...He'll never make it as a professional rugby player was one of his often used quotes......

I thought bar the Aussie rules style dropped catch Kevin Penny was faultless......

he'll score some absolute belters this year I have no doubt of it .....

....on condition Atkins gives him service.
Atkins has the build to play his position as well a pre substance Martin Gleeson, but he does little of it.
I can only imagine what Penny could do outside of Rhys, Wheeler or Joel.
I really hope it happens at least once this season to shut me up.

Atkins has the ability it just his timing and decision making not quite there chuckingit out to the touchline on early plays if he doesn't Improve I'd try move him to second row.

Enjoyed the call or radio Wire FM. As a cowboy fan I have seen a fair bit of both Paterson and Simms. Believe me Warrington have got the best of it having Simms. The Cowboys got Paterson when the Newcastle Knights cut him mid contract. His first game for us was against Newcastle and he went ok but it was all down hill from there. He has struggled to consistently hold any sort of first grade NRL spot and while he is athletic I don't think he has much of a football brain.

Because he is a practicing Moslem we were worried about how he would go during Ramadam with all the daylight fasting which has to be a concern for a power foreward. We should not have worried though because he was just as ordinary all year as he was in August.

On the other hand Simms has a lot to offer and most Cowboy fans were really sorry to see him go. Seems from the time half way through last season when Smith got him to sign for Wire his football stepped up another notch. Not that there was anything wrong with it prior to that. I think Simms became a better footballer with a more controlled aggression around the time of the last World Cup series when he represented Fiji with Petero Civoniceva. He stopped giving away so many silly penalties although he still has one or two in him. I think he played his best games when he captained the Cowboys during the origin period.

Player by player

Ratchford - Again proved to me that he's the man to play at fullback. Great support runner, and offers far more than Russell wrapping around the line in attack. Defence was great too. For our style of play we need a smart fullback - Ratchford is that man.

R Evans - Looked dangerous with the ball and seems to have found that step again when hitting the line. Got caught out a couple of times when Salford went wide.

Monaghan (Capt) - Constantly talking on the pitch, much like last year which was good to see. Looked dangerous with ball in hand, but like his winger was caught out on both scores for Salford. That said in defence of both of them, if Dobson isn't on the pitch Salford don't score those tries.

Atkins - Took his try well, showing great speed. I thought it was Penny that scored it initially. Still suspect defensively for me, and better sides will exploit us out wide. He's not the smartest of players, as seen when getting both himself and Penny bundled into touch early in the count. A better player off a short ball where his speed and power exploit lazy edge defenders.

Penny - Great performance, looks like a rugby league player now. Very dangerous in attack, and great enthusiasm in defence. Obvious test will be against better sides and wingers. Looks better equipped though now.

O'Brien - Steady performance. Kicking game not up to much but otherwise directed the team well and looked ot take the line on. Took quite a few late hits, but got up and carried on.

Myler - Best game in a fair while. Looked interested, looked to direct play, and backed up well for his try. Tested in defence and came up well from it.

Sims - Targeted by Salford all game. Did what he needed to in both attack and defence. Lasted longer on the field than the bully boys who targeted him, which speaks volumes.

Clark - Quietly effective. Shipped the ball quickly and accurately, stood up well in defence. He'll get better when he's fitter and morecused to how we play.

Hill - Your normal 8/10 performance. Surprised he got riled early on throwing the ball at the Salford player after being pushed back in goal - that could be down to dirty Salford niggle though.

Laithwaite - What every team wants in a back rower. Carts the ball up strongly, defends very very well. Setting high standards early.

Currie - Looking like the player that burst through a few years back - but with better defence.

Westwood - Typical performance. Strong with the ball, strong in defence. Typical brain fart that could have seen a red with a different ref. Needs to control that.

Subs

Higham - Effective against a tiring Salford defence. Offers something different to Clark. Typical Higham performance.

Harrison - Solid if unspectacular. Defended well, took the ball up strongly.

Asotasi - Couple of decent stints. Great shot on Morley on our own line to cause and error, and drew Morley in to free Higham up for his try.

Wheeler - Decent cameo, keep him fit and we've a very useful player. Quick, evasive and smart.

Happy overall - room for improvement, but a decent start against niggling opposition.