Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:17 am  

vastman wrote:

No they don’t have plenty of quality, I don’t know where people are getting this from!

Sorry mate but it’s not true. They have some quality no doubt but after the first 15 they have wry little and absolute nothing after that, no reserves at all. This by the way is not just my opinion but I’m reliably informed the opinion of their coach.

It wouldn’t take much of an injury crisis to totally derail them.

They have 27 players of greatly varying quality, that’s it, 27 players for a season. We have 33 and some consider that thin.

So yeah they will do ok if they have no more than one injury at a time, good luck on that one.

Salford have a few sicknotes in the squad and I don't think they have that much upfront. I think it's pretty obvious there has been a shortage of props on the market for a couple of seasons now.

Watkins and Burgess both quality but both very injury prone. Croft is very good half and Sneyd has shown he can perform well on the front foot, his defence is questionable and he needs that platform that I am not sure he was the grunt up front to consistently get.

I think they do have some decent players in the latter squad numbers, Sarginson and Atkin are both good player. Livett is rated very highly by most SL coaches but there are issues around attitude off he field hopefully he gets his head screwed on. If he does i think he will have a very good career. Jack Wells is another quality player however again injury seems to derail him every time he looks capable of really kicking on.

I keep coming back to 9's and Ackers is another who could be crucial to them.

All in all though on paper I think our squad is stronger than theirs.

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:22 am  

jonh wrote:

Salford have a few sicknotes in the squad and I don't think they have that much upfront. I think it's pretty obvious there has been a shortage of props on the market for a couple of seasons now.

Watkins and Burgess both quality but both very injury prone. Croft is very good half and Sneyd has shown he can perform well on the front foot, his defence is questionable and he needs that platform that I am not sure he was the grunt up front to consistently get.

I think they do have some decent players in the latter squad numbers, Sarginson and Atkin are both good player. Livett is rated very highly by most SL coaches but there are issues around attitude off he field hopefully he gets his head screwed on. If he does i think he will have a very good career. Jack Wells is another quality player however again injury seems to derail him every time he looks capable of really kicking on.

I keep coming back to 9's and Ackers is another who could be crucial to them.

All in all though on paper I think our squad is stronger than theirs.

On the first choice line up it’s close, but they will need a huge amount of luck to keep that line up. It’s not so much quality, it’s depth.

You wouldn’t want the likes of Bowes, Eseh or Hall for example to play to many games but we know they could hold the line for a bit in a crisis. Salford have no such players.

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:55 am  

Wildcat26 wrote:

Salford have plenty of quality on there roster IMO, I don`t rate the coach but I think they will go okay this season.

Toulouse, its always hard to judge but I don`t think they were a million miles away from been a SL playing squad last year, (I may be totally wrong!, but that`s how I see it) going with a settle side with a few more quality additions is probably the best chance they will get at competing this year.

I`m picking Hudds and both Hull sides to really struggle this year.

Think both those 2 will finish above us and 6 or 7 more . But expecting us to play a lot more expanding rugby

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 12:03 pm  

vastman wrote:

On the first choice line up it’s close, but they will need a huge amount of luck to keep that line up. It’s not so much quality, it’s depth.

You wouldn’t want the likes of Bowes, Eseh or Hall for example to play to many games but we know they could hold the line for a bit in a crisis. Salford have no such players.

The biggest key factor with Salford is the coach. He showed in his previous positions that unless he could out muscle oppositions that he had no plan B.

With that set of props and if he hasn't developed/evolved as a coach it could be a long season for them.

Mossop is a big loss for them.

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 12:45 pm  

jonh wrote:

The biggest key factor with Salford is the coach. He showed in his previous positions that unless he could out muscle oppositions that he had no plan B.

With that set of props and if he hasn't developed/evolved as a coach it could be a long season for them.

Mossop is a big loss for them.

Yeah I get that and you're probably right but that's not the point. No coach, however good, can see a season through with so little depth, so IMHO the coach is not the key factor here, the lack of players is.

[PopTart]

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:22 pm  

Salford have just signed Alex Gerrard so they are clearly still adding to the squad.
I don't think they'll be easy beats,certainly in the early rounds before injuries hit. They can always get loan players later.

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:28 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Salford have just signed Alex Gerrard so they are clearly still adding to the squad.
I don't think they'll be easy beats,certainly in the early rounds before injuries hit. They can always get loan players later.

Yep if they stay lucky they will do fine.

Where the hell do they get their money from, I know he's hardly a superstar but all the same. Does anyone get the feeling that Salford is treating this season as poop or bust?

[PopTart]

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:44 pm  

vastman wrote:

Yep if they stay lucky they will do fine.

Where the hell do they get their money from, I know he's hardly a superstar but all the same. Does anyone get the feeling that Salford is treating this season as poop or bust?

You can't have it both ways, they either have a small squad which is saving them money for others or they have a big squad and won't suffer from injuries so much.

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:52 pm  

PopTart wrote:

You can't have it both ways, they either have a small squad which is saving them money for others or they have a big squad and won't suffer from injuries so much.

Aye?

Re: Relegation Battle : Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:01 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Salford have just signed Alex Gerrard so they are clearly still adding to the squad.
I don't think they'll be easy beats,certainly in the early rounds before injuries hit. They can always get loan players later.

Re loans, I'm wondering how much Toulouse's survival strategy hinges on the lack of a Catalans reserve side. Dare say there'll be some support there.