Sat 17th Sept: SL: St Helens v Salford Red Devils KO 13:00 (Sky & Channel 4)

[Josef K]

Please no Davies he is bog standard at best, i don’t know what this obsession is with Woolf picking him. He’s rubbish at centre but in the halves you may as well get a mannequin plant it in the middle of the pitch and leave it there as it will offer more than Davies. No Hopoate again he has had no luck with injuries. 

[Josef K]

15 hours ago, Pete Grady said:

Yes well, I have to admit that although I'm Salford through and through, in my heart of hearts, I believe Saints will win easily. 

The heritage, experience and expectation of this great club is well... unstopabe and overwhelming.  They only have to send out their Cheerleaders against us in fact and we will surely be put to the sword, such is the force that they pocess.   I just feel honoured that my small team are able to be offered up for sacrifice on Saturday to the God McManus.  Saints they are, against the evil Devils and with God on their side.....the outcome is therefore inevitable.

But we Salford fans take heart because we know our place and St Helens fans can indeed relax in the knowledge that they will win easily, they can even stay at home and watch the carnage on TV for free and save their ticket money for their next energy bill.

Yours, in totally wicked submission.

Peter

 

Id sooner pay my £18 and watch the game on the terraces and worry about winter in a couple of months. 

[idrewthehaggis]

22 hours ago, Josef K said:

Salford by 10 to 14pts, they’re 13-5 to win with Betfred and are well worth a bet. It’s in the backs were Salford hold the advantage with their pace.
We haven’t a clue what is happening at Saints nobody knows whose fit or who isn’t. . 

Serious you Saint expect Saints to lose?

Welcome to the Menshevik majority wing of being a Salford supporter, where defeat is expected and even a 20 point heads up with ten minutes to go is viewed in the same sense of listening to Leonard Cohen whilst pouring over the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, ensconced in a mid Welsh ruin under a grey slate, bible black raining sky. 

Pete Gradyboy is the Bolshevik minority (if not singular) expecting ultimate victory, declaring Tractor production increases and 50 point wins for SRD. Dispensing with his homework, his brilliant bright sunflower study erupts with uplifting joyous uptempo trance music, whilst he is humming the motivational words of Eric Thomas and Pro Steve Peters and his inner chimp.

All this Menshevik will say.

No pressure for the Red Devils. All the Pressure is on the Red Vees.

If it finishes on Saturday, it was The Ride. I am in the moment and enjoying it.

Edited September 15, 2022 by idrewthehaggis

[idrewthehaggis]

22 hours ago, Josef K said:

 

By the way, who is the ref for Saturday and whose bus is he is coming in on?

Edited September 15, 2022 by idrewthehaggis

[Chris22]

2 hours ago, SalfordSlim said:

So Saints not far off full-strength now then, bar Dodd, Walmsley & Hopoate I think? Still plenty on RedVee thinking it will take a miracle for them to turn over a team of "championship players". Make your minds up lads.

I agree with this. We have four first team players injured. The three you've mentioned and Grace. There's also Dan Norman, but I think Wingfield and Bell would have been preferred anyway.

Our missing players are losses, but we have two big returnees and the squad we will name will be the strongest we've been able to name for several months. It's hardly the crisis to end all crises that our fans are making out.

On the subject of "Championship players", it did cross my mind last week! Brierley, Ormondroyd, Ackers, Gerrard, Dupree and Cross all Championship players until late. There may be some I've missed. Huge credit must go to Salford, Rowley and the players as individuals to get back or into Super League and make a real impact. A lesson in there for other clubs when it comes to recruitment!

[FearTheVee]

3 hours ago, SalfordSlim said:

So Saints not far off full-strength now then, bar Dodd, Walmsley & Hopoate I think? Still plenty on RedVee thinking it will take a miracle for them to turn over a team of "championship players". Make your minds up lads.

Saints still 1/3 or 2/7 with the bookies so Salford's job looking even tougher on paper than it was already. I think the poll on this thread is probably swayed by Salford fans like myself refusing to back against their team and neutrals wanting Saints to lose regardless.

The mood has shifted since the squad announcement.  Prior to it we knew 100% we were missing the three you mention (Walmsley, Dodd, Hopoate) plus Grace and Norman.  Then there were doubts over Percival (who hasn't played in a long time) and Matautia who has been out also.  Plus rumours around the availability of Lees.

So take all of them out on a worst case (and fans tend to extremes!) and that would be pretty dreadful.

Having 4 out isn't anything like as bad obviously.  We have had problems in the backs but we now hope to name 4 international three quarters plus a good young player in Bennison behind Welsby and Lomax in the halves.  It is comfortably the strongest position in the backs for a long, long time and it is in the backs where most of our recent issues have manifested.

It's a big improvement on recent squads and is a squad capable of winning the semi and the GF if it performs (as all the remaining teams are).

No excuses, bring it on.

Edited September 15, 2022 by FearTheVee

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, idrewthehaggis said:

Serious you Saint expect Saints to lose?

Welcome to the Menshevik majority wing of being a Salford supporter, where defeat is expected and even a 20 point heads up with ten minutes to go is viewed in the same sense of listening to Leonard Cohen whilst pouring over the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, ensconced in a mid Welsh ruin under a grey slate, bible black raining sky. 

Pete Gradyboy is the Bolshevik minority (if not singular) expecting ultimate victory, declaring Tractor production increases and 50 point wins for SRD. Dispensing with his homework, his brilliant bright sunflower study erupts with uplifting joyous uptempo trance music, whilst he is humming the motivational words of Eric Thomas and Pro Steve Peters and his inner chimp.

All this Menshevik will say.

No pressure for the Red Devils. All the Pressure is on the Red Vees.

If it finishes on Saturday, it was The Ride. I am in the moment and enjoying it.

I do expect us to lose, i just think Salford offer more in the centres and on the wings. Percival if fit won’t be match fit, Hurrell never looks fit. Walmsley will be a huge miss. I love a bit of Cohen. 

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, idrewthehaggis said:

By the way, who is the ref for Saturday and whose bus is he is coming in on?

I think whoever wins it’s because he (the Ref) prefers their kit. 

[paul hicks]

salford by 12 with luck.

could set up a great leeds v Salford grand final . after all people do want a team not in the top 4 to come through and shake things up

[Pete Grady]

4 hours ago, idrewthehaggis said:

Serious you Saint expect Saints to lose?

Welcome to the Menshevik majority wing of being a Salford supporter, where defeat is expected and even a 20 point heads up with ten minutes to go is viewed in the same sense of listening to Leonard Cohen whilst pouring over the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, ensconced in a mid Welsh ruin under a grey slate, bible black raining sky. 

Pete Gradyboy is the Bolshevik minority (if not singular) expecting ultimate victory, declaring Tractor production increases and 50 point wins for SRD. Dispensing with his homework, his brilliant bright sunflower study erupts with uplifting joyous uptempo trance music, whilst he is humming the motivational words of Eric Thomas and Pro Steve Peters and his inner chimp.

All this Menshevik will say.

No pressure for the Red Devils. All the Pressure is on the Red Vees.

If it finishes on Saturday, it was The Ride. I am in the moment and enjoying it.

No passaran!

[bobbruce]

3 hours ago, Josef K said:

I do expect us to lose, i just think Salford offer more in the centres and on the wings. Percival if fit won’t be match fit, Hurrell never looks fit. Walmsley will be a huge miss. I love a bit of Cohen. 

I’d pick Steve Peters in the halves over him though. 

[idrewthehaggis]

1 hour ago, bobbruce said:

I’d pick Steve Peters in the halves over him though. 

Are you the inner chimp of Prof Steve Peters? 

[Pete Grady]

13 hours ago, idrewthehaggis said:

By the way, who is the ref for Saturday and whose bus is he is coming in on?

A guy called McManus, he did the 2019 Final as well.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Pete Grady

[Exiled Wiganer]

18 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

The mood has shifted since the squad announcement.  Prior to it we knew 100% we were missing the three you mention (Walmsley, Dodd, Hopoate) plus Grace and Norman.  Then there were doubts over Percival (who hasn't played in a long time) and Matautia who has been out also.  Plus rumours around the availability of Lees.

So take all of them out on a worst case (and fans tend to extremes!) and that would be pretty dreadful.

Having 4 out isn't anything like as bad obviously.  We have had problems in the backs but we now hope to name 4 international three quarters plus a good young player in Bennison behind Welsby and Lomax in the halves.  It is comfortably the strongest position in the backs for a long, long time and it is in the backs where most of our recent issues have manifested.

It's a big improvement on recent squads and is a squad capable of winning the semi and the GF if it performs (as all the remaining teams are).

No excuses, bring it on.

No excuses? Can we quote you on that?

[FearTheVee]

5 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

No excuses? Can we quote you on that?

Yep!

[johnh1]

Great news for us Salford fans. Garry Schofield has predicted a Saints win.

[meast]

Salford are far and away the best team I've seen this year, they are on form, and have momentum and are really flying.

Even without Croft, they systemically dismantled a side that had finished 3rd (albeit not playing well) but a side that had been ridiculously hard to dismantle.

I hope Salford will win it and go on and win the SKY cup.

[meast]

All teams have players missing, it's a squad game now not 1-13.

This whole thing is just another thing stirred up by Sky and the media.

It's about who is better on the day, simple.

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, meast said:

All teams have players missing, it's a squad game now not 1-13.

This whole thing is just another thing stirred up by Sky and the media.

It's about who is better on the day, simple.

And better at the end of the season not the start or  the middle.

 

 

[johnh1]

1 hour ago, meast said:

Salford are far and away the best team I've seen this year, they are on form, and have momentum and are really flying.

Even without Croft, they systemically dismantled a side that had finished 3rd (albeit not playing well) but a side that had been ridiculously hard to dismantle.

I hope Salford will win it and go on and win the SKY cup.

Cheers Meast. Great comments those. Can’t wait for tomorrow.

[Damien]

I do fancy Salford for this but you can never write Saints off.

[bobbruce]

12 hours ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

No excuses? Can we quote you on that?

Can we quote you.

[clogdance]

Saints pack (even without Alex Walmsley) will be too much for Salford. Anyway, looking forward to what should be a great game. St. Helens win by 14 points is my prediction.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

lets go Salford

 

[SalfordSlim]

Breakfast and a pint (or 3) in the local and then minibus to Sintellins at 11. Bring on the Salford!!!