Fri 1 Feb: SL: Huddersfield Giants v Salford Red Devils KO 7.45pm

[Just Browny]

Celtic Rooster will have enjoyed that.

[Red Willow]

14 minutes ago, Hammerless Nail said:

Warning: the following post contains concepts some readers may find disturbing.

So, with two games left this weekend, that puts Salford top.

That makes me very happy

[Ant]

That went entirely as expected. Salford havent lost at the Giants since 2013.

Throw in  5 first team players not playing, losing our stand off yesterday and all kinds of disruption the result wasn't in doubt.

Positives were, giants will get better and quickly, our next home game will probably see a very different giants 17, Isaac Farrell stepped up well to half back too 

 

Negative. Grix. Ffs. 

[johnh1]

Top of the league. Who'd have thunk it. Great stuff.

[Ant]

22 minutes ago, johnh1 said:

Top of the league. Who'd have thunk it. Great stuff.

Deserved it, played some simple stuff but it was effective 

[Celtic Rooster]

4 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Celtic Rooster will have enjoyed that. 

Yes it was nice to see my son so happy and excited, and Salford scored some excellent tries but they are going to lose games for the lack of an accomplished goal kicker. Missed 5 tonight. Glad I saw the last try even though I felt sorry for the Huddersfield defender. Contender for what happens next on Q of S. Great support from the travelling Salford fans tonight but my God, how are the Huddersfield players expected to get themselves up for a game playing in front of such a unenthusiastic crowd? Got to be honest I think both teams will lose more games this season than they win, but I would dearly love Salford to prove me wrong. Lets just enjoy it while we can. Looking forward to Swinton at Sheffield Eagles on Sunday now.

[Kirmonds pouch]

Pleased though I am with the results so far they mean very little, to use the cliche it’s a marathon blah blah.

im especially wary of good first game victories against a team generally considered better than us. Two of our worst seasons saw us win against the odds. 

2015 saw us beat Cas convincingly at there place in game one - we ended up in the million pound game.

[longboard]

19 hours ago, TBC said:

I couldn't speak for days either when Leeds lifted the LLS with that last ditch Ryan Hall try (although TBF the bounce of the ball did bamboozle him that day).

A good organiser of the defence which is what we will need tonight.

Giants dropping like flies at the moment but should still be able to put out a competitive side.

Think we may struggle out wide tonight.

Yup. The right side of Fartown's defence was battered.

I've just about got feeling back in my fingers and toes after sitting through that game.

[muckymunksy]

Between London and Huddersfield for drop this season. 

[meast]

14 hours ago, Ant said:

That went entirely as expected. Salford havent lost at the Giants since 2013.

Throw in  5 first team players not playing, losing our stand off yesterday and all kinds of disruption the result wasn't in doubt.

Positives were, giants will get better and quickly, our next home game will probably see a very different giants 17, Isaac Farrell stepped up well to half back too 

 

Negative. Grix. Ffs. 

What's the beef with Grix? i thought he was one of our better players last night.

[meast]

10 hours ago, Celtic Rooster said:

Yes it was nice to see my son so happy and excited, and Salford scored some excellent tries but they are going to lose games for the lack of an accomplished goal kicker. Missed 5 tonight. Glad I saw the last try even though I felt sorry for the Huddersfield defender. Contender for what happens next on Q of S. Great support from the travelling Salford fans tonight but my God, how are the Huddersfield players expected to get themselves up for a game playing in front of such a unenthusiastic crowd? Got to be honest I think both teams will lose more games this season than they win, but I would dearly love Salford to prove me wrong. Lets just enjoy it while we can. Looking forward to Swinton at Sheffield Eagles on Sunday now.

Didn't take long for the first dig at Huddersfield's crowds, but be totally honest, how many other grounds would be enthusiastic, rattling around in a spacious 24,000 seater stadium,  -3 degrees and getting bummed by a team who many predict will scraping the bottom of the barrel again?

[meast]

Well played Salford, totally expected from me, even with a full strength side out i didn't expect much, Salford have the Indian sign over us at the moment.

They have a very good spine, a good, strong, starting 17, but as with us, as was shown last night, probably lack the depth to do much damage throughout the season, their spine, all accomplished and used to playing with each other clicked,, Evalds, Lui, Hastings, Lussick, would trouble most teams in the competition.

Compared to us,with a 34 year old coach at full back,having to re register himself as a player, a winger who has trained and readied himself for full back, a 2nd rower who has probably forgot how to play centre, a half back who was only reserve at Batley last year, their backs, were strong, fast and powerful finished things off superbly, led by Evalds, who was the lynchpin for them, we were totally all over the place in reality.

They did the basics very well and stuck to a game plan and fully deserved it, absolutely no qualms, and they brought a terrific following, almost their home support which was great to see, and would put some bigger clubs' followings to shame, and some of them even donated to a food bank collection point the Giants Supporters Association held, so massive well done for them.

[Morris Wanchuk]

23 minutes ago, meast said:

What's the beef with Grix? i thought he was one of our better players last night.

I’ve posted elsewhere that he’ll add to the Giants squad. Yep we know he’s got some howlers in his locker but some folk are on his back even when he’s MOM! I can only imagine they don’t actually go to the games.

[Celtic Rooster]

That's a fair point Meast and I am well aware of Huddersfields injury problems but Salford rarely get credit either so Salford fans are making the most of this. I don't have any particular beef with Huddersfield or their fans, and I have been over there many times since the early 70's watching several different teams but, right from the start last night, I have never seen a set of fans so lacking in enthusiasm. I felt sorry for the announcer who was doing his best to drum up support. Best wishes for the rest of the season.

[meast]

Ant does go to the games though, i know Grix is a bit like Marmite with Giants fans especially, but he was far poor last night, my opinion.

[meast]

4 minutes ago, Celtic Rooster said:

That's a fair point Meast and I am well aware of Huddersfields injury problems but Salford rarely get credit either so Salford fans are making the most of this. I don't have any particular beef with Huddersfield or their fans, and I have been over there many times since the early 70's watching several different teams but, right from the start last night, I have never seen a set of fans so lacking in enthusiasm. I felt sorry for the announcer who was doing his best to drum up support. Best wishes for the rest of the season.

Likwise, I don't have a problem with Salford fans, well the ones that can behave themselves, like us, they get some right thrown at them about their crowds, or lack of, and i will try and back them up against the big club bullies , so i just found it strange that you'd choose to have a little pop at us.

There was 5,300 and something there last night, not a bad turnout at all on a filthy Friday night, with a good contingent from Salford, it's not really the Giants fans fault that our stadium is far too big for us, most of us would quite happily leave for a smaller, more compact, homely ground, w do try our best to raise an atmosphere but it's light fighting against the tide most of the time, it's not a case of the fans being "unenthusiastic" more like the fact that it doesn't come across in that stadium, go to an away game of ours and you'll see how enthusiastic Giants fans can be .

Good luck to your boys too.

[johnh1]

7 hours ago, meast said:

Likwise, I don't have a problem with Salford fans, well the ones that can behave themselves, like us, they get some right thrown at them about their crowds, or lack of, and i will try and back them up against the big club bullies , so i just found it strange that you'd choose to have a little pop at us.

There was 5,300 and something there last night, not a bad turnout at all on a filthy Friday night, with a good contingent from Salford, it's not really the Giants fans fault that our stadium is far too big for us, most of us would quite happily leave for a smaller, more compact, homely ground, w do try our best to raise an atmosphere but it's light fighting against the tide most of the time, it's not a case of the fans being "unenthusiastic" more like the fact that it doesn't come across in that stadium, go to an away game of ours and you'll see how enthusiastic Giants fans can be .

Good luck to your boys too.

And that is our problem too Meast. We are playing in a stadium that is too big, and we have to shut off at least one part of the ground. Oh to be back at The Willows. Anyway, we are top of the league, and the bottom two are Wigan and Leeds. Happy days.

[Ant]

7 hours ago, meast said:

Ant does go to the games though, i know Grix is a bit like Marmite with Giants fans especially, but he was far poor last night, my 

From fielding the kicks he got smashed and made zero momentum, from then on we were on the back foot in the ruck

His link play is terrible. Ball gets to him and again, he gets smashed, or dithers and the play dies. 

He failed in marshalling the defence, Salford put the same play on 4 times and scored four tries.

To his credit he was sound under high kicks and didn't make any errors.

I think the problem is Woolfords selection, we'd have been better with I. Senior and Jake Wardle on the flank and Mackintosh at fullback

 

[Jblake]

2 hours ago, johnh1 said:

And that is our problem too Meast. We are playing in a stadium that is too big, and we have to shut off at least one part of the ground. Oh to be back at The Willows. Anyway, we are top of the league, and the bottom two are Wigan and Leeds. Happy days.

Just out of interest from a giants fan who has lived in Manchester/Salford for last 25 years, would you ever consider playing at Moor Lane? or even the Cliff? They would be bar far better grounds, certainly more character and more enjoyable to visit. 

[meast]

13 hours ago, Ant said:

From fielding the kicks he got smashed and made zero momentum, from then on we were on the back foot in the ruck

His link play is terrible. Ball gets to him and again, he gets smashed, or dithers and the play dies. 

He failed in marshalling the defence, Salford put the same play on 4 times and scored four tries.

To his credit he was sound under high kicks and didn't make any errors.

I think the problem is Woolfords selection, we'd have been better with I. Senior and Jake Wardle on the flank and Mackintosh at fullback

 

I respect your opinion, but i thought he had energy, which a lot of others didn't match, and the reason Salford scored identical tries was because of the lack of cohesion with inside defenders, who probably have never played with each other before, watching Grix, he was pushing players around and prodding them, it appears it was a lack of a cohesive unit rather than one man's doings.

As i say though, that's my opinion, hopefully, we'll fix things sooner than later and get some experienced bodies back.

[TBC]

16 hours ago, Ant said:

From fielding the kicks he got smashed and made zero momentum, from then on we were on the back foot in the ruck

His link play is terrible. Ball gets to him and again, he gets smashed, or dithers and the play dies. 

He failed in marshalling the defence, Salford put the same play on 4 times and scored four tries.

To his credit he was sound under high kicks and didn't make any errors.

I think the problem is Woolfords selection, we'd have been better with I. Senior and Jake Wardle on the flank and Mackintosh at fullback

 

Think Jake Wardle was on the injury list so not an option.

[johnh1]

15 hours ago, Jblake said:

Just out of interest from a giants fan who has lived in Manchester/Salford for last 25 years, would you ever consider playing at Moor Lane? or even the Cliff? They would be bar far better grounds, certainly more character and more enjoyable to visit. 

I don't think Moor Lane is big enough. I've heard that if Salford City get promoted to the  Football League, they cannot play there anymore. I don't know anything about the Cliff. We need a stadium within the city that has good public transfer links, like the metro, and easy to walk to. Not a ground that is miles from anywhere. It's a real pity that The Willows couldn't have been redeveloped.

[Ant]

6 hours ago, meast said:

I respect your opinion, but i thought he had energy, which a lot of others didn't match, and the reason Salford scored identical tries was because of the lack of cohesion with inside defenders, who probably have never played with each other before, watching Grix, he was pushing players around and prodding them, it appears it was a lack of a cohesive unit rather than one man's doings.

As i say though, that's my opinion, hopefully, we'll fix things sooner than later and get some experienced bodies back.

I was generally a big defender of Grix last time, but Friday night was a display of his worst traits for me, but he wasn't supposed to be playing and imo Woolford had better options 

[Jblake]

2 hours ago, johnh1 said:

I don't think Moor Lane is big enough. I've heard that if Salford City get promoted to the  Football League, they cannot play there anymore. I don't know anything about the Cliff. We need a stadium within the city that has good public transfer links, like the metro, and easy to walk to. Not a ground that is miles from anywhere. It's a real pity that The Willows couldn't have been redeveloped.

Surprised about the Salford City stadium not being Football League standard, they spent a fair bit tidy up from what I've seen of it, tidy little ground, you could improve it. You could see them making noises for the AJ Bell then?, perhaps building the stand up opposite that and adding corporate. Although chatting to a neighbour whos a regular there, they'll never get massive crowds, they've even dropped this year. I feel the AJ is a real millstone for Salford and a bit of a turkey for Salford in general, like you say its away from the true community.

[WSCR]

19 hours ago, Jblake said:

Just out of interest from a giants fan who has lived in Manchester/Salford for last 25 years, would you ever consider playing at Moor Lane? or even the Cliff? They would be bar far better grounds, certainly more character and more enjoyable to visit. 

As a long term(very long term)Salford fan who loved the the Willows but has come to really enjoy the AJB stadium, I certainly would not comtemplate the club playing at at Moor Lane as getting there from where we live is a nightmare with hardly any parking etc.

The stadium is a very good one in my opinion and the stadium company has improved markedly since it opened,I was one of its biggest critics initially but I give credit where credit is due.

We can get there quicker than we could get to the Willows,have to walk a little further from where we park now and we can get away quickly after a short walk and cars are exiting the ground much quicker than when it first opened.

We have excellent seats at a reasonable price with very good facilities much better than several grounds,especially for away supporters.