Bring back the Boyd

In my amateur days, if a member of the opposition was running game, the technical term for putting pressure on him was “ smartening him up”. I was “ smartened up” a few times— it was part of the game. What it didn’t involve, was cheap shots on kickers— it makes me smile a little that in todays sanitised game, this is allowed when, in the days of the biff, it would generally have led to a large scaler

I completely agree and I take my hat off to Wakey in particular who , for the good of the game, have played through adversity when, in reality, they have stood little or no chance of being in the end of season reckoning

Probably one of the most underrated forward from the 80’s era was Wire’s Bob Jackson. Never had a bad game and part of the best front row —- Jackson Tamati Boyd— I’ve had the pleasure to watch in any era.

Obviously disappointed as a Wire fan but delighted for Salford and their supporters. Felt particularly sorry for Matty Ashton—- a couple of errors don’t detract from his performances this season—- he’s been a breath of fresh air and hope Steve Price keeps the faith with him. Our pack seemed a little undersized and it’s been a while since Daz Clark was mostly ineffective and I continually scratch my head at the under using of big Akouala—- not even on the bench for this one . Take BMM out of the squad and I can’t see any of our forwards creating much havoc—— good luck for the final Salford

At any given time, any team can lose players because of Covid and out of necessity call upon fringe players—- makes sense for them to be given game time in a game that perhaps win or lose doesn’t really matter that much, instead of finding out they’re not up to it in a game that does—- cup semi or the playoffs. I’d never seen many of the Wire squad against Salford play before—- some I would feel assured playing in an important game if called upon and some I wouldn’t and I’m sure Steve Price learnt a few things as well

Have to agree with you mate. Probably recognised how well some of his counterparts were showing up and was desperate to impress—- shame cos he’s a young kid but that decision is likely to cost him in the future. On another note, think that Dec Patten has shown up really well in his very limited appearances and has shown real professionalism and good organisational skills—- shame he didn’t show it last season when it was his chance to stake a real claim for the future

Had a cheeky little sidestep as well

Missed my other prop out—- Morley

Jonathan Davies Offiah James Roberts Greg Inglis Addo Carr Bevan French Rob Burrow Esene Faimalo Daz Clark Mark Roberts Paul Medley Ellery Hanley/Mike Gregory

Graeme West, Ian Sibbit, Alex Walmsley

Paul Bishop— tiny but hard as nails. Reckon Paul Hulme was pretty small for a back row forward who also spent time in the halfs. Both of these sent off in a John Player tie in the 80’s after a ding dong

I think this is good business for Salford. Watson appears to believe in his players and has the ability to install the same self belief in his playing staff, a lot of whom have been cast off or written off. It’s not too long ago when Watkins was one of the first names on the England team and I hope he can recapture his form of old. Good luck to both parties

I watched Wire thrashing them at Canal Street in a Challenge Cup round in the 80’s. They were that bad that even Steve Roach played a blinder. What sticks in my mind and still brings a smile to my face was the entrance song, to the tune of Glory, glory alleluia: “ Runcorn Highfield are the greatest.......” and so on. They even played it as they came out for the second half when they were getting stuffed... happy memories

I like Paul Wood’s contribution, Mickey struggles a bit. What I like about it is it almost seems like the guests have let their guard down and a more honest than if they were on , say a Sky platform.

Not sure if this has been mentioned in other posts but I was recently put onto this YouTube channel hosted by Paul Wood and Mickey Higham . It’s not the most professional or polished interviews you’ll ever watch but I’ve found myself hooked. The guests have included Tony Adams, Ryan Giggs and rugby legends like Offiah and Shaun Edwards. The one I particularly enjoyed was with Shaun Wane— not knowing his back story, I now see this fella in a completely new light. Give it a whirl if you’ve not seen any of them yet— I think most will enjoy them