You could apply that to all the teams though. A few teams are going to be favourites, a few mid tablers and a few bottomers - based upon the signings they've made and their financial clout. I merely judged that their standing in 2009 would be at or around the bottom of the table based on their squad at the start of the season. However - Wigan, Warrington and Bradford have put my theory (so far at least) firmly on it's a[irs[/ie.

There is no need for Salford fans to be overly depressed after this weekend's performance.

Let us not forget that Salford were playing Castleford at the Jungle, which is a known graveyard for visiting teams, and the Reds were up against two of the in form Super League players in the persons of Shifty Sherwin and Ryan McGoldrick, not to mention the extraordinary talent of Dean Widders (who formerly played with Sydney Roosters and Parramatta along with David Solomona, and later with South Sydney).

After a somewhat disappointing start, Salford definitely showed some improvement in the second half. After losing the first half 28-6 they only lost the second half by 24-10. The veteran Australian coach Shaun McRae -- an amiable man if ever there was one -- will surely take a lot of positives out of that.

Fitzpatrick is not a Scottish name, but there are lots of Scots Irish

Taxi for McRae then?

my friend you could not get a more irish surname than fitzpatrick

[iextraordinary talent of Dean Widders [/i

now there is a group of words you rarely hear uttered together!

I'd go along with that apart from Wigan. I can see Warrington and to a lesser extent Bradford getting their act together sooner or later cos they have a team full of good players, but Wigan to me don't look any better than the majority of squads in SL and consequently they'll continue to enter games against the likes of Wakey, Cas, Harlequins etc with at best a 50/50 chance of winning.

Yeah, I agree with all of that, however, the 'Young Professionals' aren't really what you'd call 'targets' for the club...the only rugby they are aware of isn't played up north, if ya catch my drift...but, the possibilities of increasing gates and revenue are, as they say, infinite.

To be sure, to be sure.

Except he is from W1g4n

His parents probably immigrated to Wigan, trying to escape the arduous diet of haggis that the Scots Irish are forced to eat in the highlands.

o'Really?