Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 12:44 pm  

When I look at the halves I cry a little. Tim Smith and Rango versus no one and Walsh. Hock and Puletua in the pack are better players than anything we'll have and they'll have the likes of Morley and Rapira too. Junior Sau and Francis Meli at centre more than destroys Turner and no one. Their fullback Mullaney is described as 'the best fullback to come out of Western Suburbs since Brett Hodgson. Throw in the few good players they already have like Fages and Sneyd and they should be massively better next term.

If only Marwan had bought his home town club instead of Salford. Think what a bit of ambition could have done for us.

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:00 pm  

The problem is the players they have now won't be happy sat in the stands watching the new editions

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:05 pm  

Give over. Sometimes I wonder why you don't do one & watch another side. TP's knees & shoulders are gone and has been anonymous this season. Hock is an absolute liability thats done nothing at Widnes & Rapira plays less than Wheeler.

Morley is well passed his sell by date, & although Chase is exceptional Tim Smith is woeful defensively & nothing more than average. Our pack will go well next season admittedly we need a six but weve played large chunks if the season without Lomax, Soliola & the whole season without Roby. Salford will finish around 5th-6th in my opinion.

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:25 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

When I look at the halves I cry a little. Tim Smith and Rango versus no one and Walsh. Hock and Puletua in the pack are better players than anything we'll have and they'll have the likes of Morley and Rapira too. Junior Sau and Francis Meli at centre more than destroys Turner and no one. Their fullback Mullaney is described as 'the best fullback to come out of Western Suburbs since Brett Hodgson. Throw in the few good players they already have like Fages and Sneyd and they should be massively better next term.

If only Marwan had bought his home town club instead of Salford. Think what a bit of ambition could have done for us.

ridiculous post. 3 players they have signed are 30 plus and injury prone.

Why oh why you support saints i will never know.

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:32 pm  

Fair play to Koukash - he's put together a decent side more quickly than I thought he would.

Something is troubling me, though. Out of those 12 names, the following are all non-fed trained:

Chase
Puletua
Smith
Sa'u
Rapira
Mullaney

They're only supposed to be allowed five. Is there a loophole I'm missing?

EDIT: Tim Smith was at Wigan in 2008, but had a stint back in Aus before joining Wakey. Perhaps the pre-2008 exemption stays active even if a player goes back home (in which case, we should have been in the market for Smith ages ago).

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:44 pm  

I don't think Salford will be better than us, however they will be a tough team to beat. Expecting a fifth or sixth place finish.

A pack with Morley and Hock in it will be very aggressive, they will give away penalties, but they will frighten and bully other packs who don't possess any hard knocks to give it back to them.

Half back pairing is potentially best in league. Smith is someone with a good footballing brain who can move a side round the pitch, though lacks pace. Chase on the other hand is the off the cuff x factor player who can turn a game on his own.

Centres of Meli and Gleeson next year will create lots of space for the wingers.

Puletua while not as good as a few years ago is still capable of wrecking havoc. Certainly him and Hock will offer lots of options with offloads. Puletua will probably play off the bench as an impact player.

Add the other signings alongside the best of the players they currently have and there will be a decent squad there.

[TimperleySaint]

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:06 pm  

No! Will take a couple of years for Salford to bed in as a decent team before they make a serious challange for the top 4.

They should be aiming at playoffs next year, then make 5th/6th the year after with the addition of some new ( younger ) signings and then 2016 should be the year they aim to crack the top 4 and be contenders.

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:51 pm  

When you say if only he had bought Saints. The respective price tags are in a whole different ball park.

He would have had to shell out alot more on Saints to make the initial purchase, also there would need to be a seller.

Lets not forget Salford where in dire financial straits and buying this team does not mean they will be averaging 8k crowds this year or next year etc.

Yes they do have 2 halves but nearly every time has 2. We are the only team to go the route of none.

I also think you really show a massive lack of disrespect to some of our players when calling them no-one when refering to makinson.

It seams you would also want to swap Lomax for their FB??????

Lets see how they go, I'd expect them to make the 8, but I expect us to do better next year.

Would be more than happy to wager my moderators tag on it too if I had the authority to pass it on. Imagine that Saddened with access to the Wigan forum.

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:04 pm  

roader wrote:

The problem is the players they have now won't be happy sat in the stands watching the new editions

They will dump most of them (or just dump on them).

Re: Will Salford be better than Saints in 2014? : Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:09 pm  

I am on my phone reading this so it didn't show me who started the thread. Wasn't hard to guess who though...