It's mega frustrating how bad our last play options are. When you then factor in how good our defence can be, it's almost criminal.

If you stuck a Deacon in this side, we'd be pinning teams back in the corner and then forcing errors with our D.

Kinda negates one of our best assets really.

Smith really did have a nightmare today unfortunately - his kicking game is normally a strength but really struggled for any distance or accuracy.

I actually liked how angry he looked with himself - shows how far off he was from what he expects.

To be fair to Harry Smith, and I've watched him from him being 15 years old, that's the worst I've ever see him perform from a kicking point of view. I don't know if it got into his head about the one he dropped over the line for a certain try but it sometimes happens that things don't go for you. It's how you react that is important, and I think he'll be fine.

I didn't think there was much of an issue with the pack. The established players played pretty well. The young players defended well when they were on. I'm not sure what people were expecting but it was a bit of a slog for both teams down the middle. The main difference was the kicking game. Our last tackles options were almost always poor, Salford came up with some decent end of set plays. It meant they got the better of field position.

I thought our struggles to get out of our own 20 or 30 were more to do with our absentees in the outside backs, as it's their quick carries and footwork that helps in that situation. Sio, Sarginson, Watkins and Inu were more effective on that front.

There's not much you can really take from that game. It was tight as you would expect with the conditions. Salford took advantage of our left edge defence which was a bit of a weak spot but except for dealing with last tackle plays I thought the team went okay.

Manfredi out for a few weeks with a thumb injury.

He can’t buy a bit of luck.

So you are the fan that's put him on a pedestal

Last season he looked very good with the right kind of support around him but I do not think anyone said that he was the finished article. He had a bad day at the office today but then everyone does. Most of us have learned not to go too far either way based on one performance.

Meh, it's a friendly. In 2013 Leigh tonked us 30-6 in pre season and we went on to win the double. I don't think it bears much resemblance to what would have happened if 2 points were on the line. Things I picked up (with one eye on the game to be honest, I get bored quickly during friendlies when I'm not at the ground and the subs start coming on) Singleton put a couple of big hits in defence. Hardaker and Bibby had a serious case of the dropsies. I didn't notice Hanley for good or bad which is an upgrade on his debut, glad he has that Saints game out of his system now.

Edit - scratch that about Hanley, I missed the last try where he was bulldozed.

Manfredis injuries are a liability, we have let 2 very good wingers go in Davies and Burgess and are relying on him staying fit, it’s not working.

With regards to today’s performance I’m not too worried, our top 5 attacking players were all missing so our attack was obviously not up to par, decent defence and a good run out for some young lads. McDonnell is never a centre though and Bibby is not a winger, just hope we don’t go with that combination for the first few rounds...

totally agree

So now I get it we have half the team missing all attaching players- Manfredi,French,Hastings,Marshall,Field,Gildart and our attach isnt that good.
We defended well, forwards played well, youngsters played well, all is well for the future, as pointed out we wasnt that good last season just got to the final and won the shield maybe we could do one better and win the final.

Granted it was only a friendly, but it again highlighted for me that Tony Clubb should be nowhere near our 17.

Sadly though I think we know he will be.

After albeit brief sightings yesterday of the props, I’d have my selection order as-

1-Bullock
2-Singleton
3-Havard
4-Partington
5-Clark
6-Byrne
7-Kilner
8-Clubb

But I expect Clubb will slot in at 5 and get a place on the bench and the others will slip a place.

You can't keep everyone,Davies wanted guaranteed first team rugby and Burgess's attitude stank most of the time,he only played when he wanted to

Yeah i must agree,whenever I've seen him play both first team and the reserves at Robin Park he has always seemed to be on top of his kicking game,everyone is allowed an off day although you wouldn't think so judging by some of the comments on here

How good do you think he can be Brian? This isn't just based on yesterday but I feel in general he is a little over hyped. IMO potential to be a mid table SL half but not sure he's the international prospect that some have made him out to be.

I know he is very well thought of and are high hopes for him from the England set up.

He kicked the touring Australia Schoolboys team to death when they last toured these shores with a masterclass of kicking. Those displays more than anything were probably why he got his England Knights call up.

He is only a baby still and there are certain things I’d like to see more from him particularly with ball in hand, the main one being to take the ball into the line more often.

He is still only a baby though and will be the junior partner at Wigan this year when he plays but that being said I’d also like him to stamp a bit more authority on the team.

He’s a great talent I just hope he is allowed time and patience to grow into his potential, rather than being written off because of a few iffy games.

Agree fully here. He did something that an English half hasn't done in a while when he destroyed the Aussies so there is definitely something there we just need to give him the time he needs rather than write him off as I do think he has the potential.

I think he’s looked a little nervous since stepping up and that’s understandable. He’s also shown some flashes of genius in his short first team career with little kick and chases and I recall a superb switch of play towards the back end of last season. It’s going to take time IMO because he’s the sort of half who to get the best from, you need to give him control of a team but at 20/21 that takes some guts and confidence and he’ll have to build that. You can throw a young halfback in with the style of play like George Williams, Sam Tomkins, Kyle Eastmond etc and it’s a bit easier for them because they were all running halves and from memory had dominant partners and you’re just asking them to look after their own game. Once Harry Smith has settled down and built up that experience and confidence, you’re going to be asking him to not only manage his own game but manage the team.

It’ll take time but he’ll get there.

He's definitely a confident sort of character. I didn't like him in person frankly but I can definitely see that kind of arrogance translating well to playing in the halves. I've watched him since even before Rogues and he tore it up at kids level which isn't that common for a player relying on skill rather than just being stronger or faster than everyone else. Having said all that, there are tons of academy superstars who went on to do bugger all in SL. He needs regular rugby somewhere this year.

I think its those raw physical attributes that concern me a little. He looks to have a good mind for the game and you'll get a strong kicking game out of him 9 times out of 10 but no real standouts in terms of pace, agility, acceleration or strength. Could mean he ends up as a Marc Sneyd/Matty Smith type but we'll see. Certainly not writing him off by the way.

Yeah of course. I've heard there are ways to predict how big they'll be pretty early on (think it's to do with the length of the femur and things like that) but I've no idea how widely it's used. JonH might know. If the floor of his potential is a starting SL halfback then I'm pretty happy to be honest. We have had plenty highly rated academy players who didn't get that far. In fact if he's much better than that then we're unlikely to be able to keep him this side of the world anyway, how depressing is that!

if i was Adrian Lam i would be using George Williams and Ryan Hampshire as examples to him

From the outside looking in both had talent. 1 knuckled down and got his break, and is currently in Oz plying his trade, whilst the other seemed to be making lots of noise (or his agent was) about how good he was, as far as i know is still in Wakey?

if he has the talent and applies himself, then injuries aside he has a good chance of making it both as a Wigan player and poss in Oz as Grimmy aludes to. if he has talent but cant be d, then he could finish up mid SL or championship

smiths already been given more of a chance than Hampshire did

Maybe he kept his mouth shut