So lets have a look at what we have...

We have 6 players who have at some point been good enough to have played in the premier competition in the world... the NRL

Jeremy Smith
Daniel Holdsworth
Phil Leuluai
Ian Sibbit
Luke Swain
Ray Cashmere

2 Players who are good enough 'apparently' for Saints to not want to release them...

Matty Smith
Steve Tyrer

We have a wealth of SL experience from the likes of....

Malcolm Alker
Karl Fitzpatrick
Rob Parker

2 Players who are classed of 2 of the best up and coming players in the game....

Luke Adamson
Stefan Ratchford

We sign youngsters who apparently have enough for Saints and Leeds to sign them...

Jodie Broughton
Ashley Gibson
Dean McGilvrey

So WHY do we have the rubbish on the park that we witnessed last night ?

Is it the coach ?
Bad combination of players ?
Or... are we looking at the fact that these players are here for a reason... they are just no good... or only good enough for us ?

Am I the only person who felt sorry for Daniel Holdsworth last night ? The guy must wonder what on earth he's come to. He's clearly a talent who could be wasting a year of his development by being here.

It worries me that after being caught with the kick to the corner 2 times... the 'coach' didn't change it on that side.... being caught 5 times with the same tactic is nothing short of criminal.

Last nights result was far from a shock... and exactly what I expected of this 'team'

Think Loyalfans synopsis of the team is spot on. I was quite happy with the squad before the season kicked off, as many have said bit light in the pack but good young players and some slightly older who need to make their mark. It for me can only be the coach. He doesnt give a fig about this club, and is slowly destroying us.

A bit light in the pack? a massive understatement I think.Their forwards controlled the game for the full 80 minutes.The amount of ground they made on every set of six was unbelievable.This,plus a really good Kick and chase,and our forwards struggled throughout.
I've defended McRae several times on here,saying give him time etc,but I think his position should be seriously looked at.After all he's been at the helm now for a few years and this is his team.This is almost a repeat of last seasons opening few games when we were like a rabbit caught in the headlights,we appear to have learnt nothing.
Any coach Salford do employ however is under a big disadvantage of having little money to spend on new players and can therefore only really sign players nobody else wants,therefore he has to get the best out of what he has and to try and improve them gradually,something I thought McRae could possibly do,and still might do. It's his apparent inability to alter things during a match that worries me.
By the way,you say he doesn't give a fig about the club,neither do the people of Salford judging by last nights attendance

Garry Schofield said last year that we may not win a game and I laughed. Had he said it this year I would be inclined to agree with him. The playing side has been on a steady decline since McRae took over. The calibre of player that we are signing is far worse than when he took over. Why is it that the likes of Huddersfield and Hull KR manage to progress on the back of a top six finish and yet we end up getting relegated from a similar position? Last nights performance was abysmal. To concede one try from a high kick fair enough. You learn from it and try to ensure it doesn't happen again. To concede 5 times to the same tactic - well the buck stops with the coaching staff on that one. Credit Brian Noble though. He identified a weakness and to say that they exploited it is an understatement. We've lost comprehensively to a team that finished bottom last season. Is McRae the man to pick the players up after that? Along with Loyalfan, I felt sorry for Holdsworth last night however if he keeps performing like that somebody will be in for him.

Karl Harrison seems to be doing a great job at Batley and the word is he will be Halifax next year. You should have never got rid of him.

Well over 12 hours since the end of the match and I am still mad with what i witnessed last night, ratchford last season was a brilliant player, the last two matches he has not been 10% the player he was, he looks like hes never played rugby before. The others just stood and watched the kicker nobody tried to close him down or put any pressure on what so ever, it was like the players don't want to play for the SLUG. Anyone notice how late the SLUG was getting to the dressing rooms at half time and how early he came out, but what happened in that short space of time, because towards the break we were getting back into it, then the talk, and straight after the break they score. Other coaches must p155 theirselves laughing when hes on Sky talking about this teams tactics being wrong etc etc, We are saying we have not got much money, neither have the Welsh club, Wakefield, possibly Castleford but their coaches get how of a lot out of the players in their charge, we get very poor value for money from the SLUG and I bet as I type he is already driving to a Sky Location, perhaps last night he was in the wrong box and should have been at The Dale Winton Stadium in Pietown. Some say we can'y afford to let him go, I say can we afford to keep him? We missed a trick in getting rid of Jimmy Lowes, I know he had a go at the fans, but that is passion, something that the SLUG totally lacks. I would suggest that the SLUG is on more money then the coaches of the clubs I have mentioned above and as such he is crippling the club and not providing anything to justify the wage, infact paying him nothing would be too much. Noble was available for much of last season yet we carried on with the SLUG who has had 3 years to mould a time not 3 months, I watched the Welsh team against Leeds and noticed that they played mostly up the middle and left space on the wings. What was the gameplan last night we tried to play them up the middle and did not exploit the space. What did Noble do he spread his team out to use that space and they scored 7 SEVEN tries 5 from exactly the same play. We need a complete change at the club with regards coaching, because now the SLUG will have us forth on his to do list, of 1) Sky, 2) England Coaching, 3) food, and finally 5) Salford, i forgot about about the BEEB at number 4.
So who do we get for new coach? a very hard question, who is available? do we take a chance on a young Aussie, because at least they will come in with new ideas and tactics, because the SLUG's coaching manual was the work of Moses its so old.
Or another TV celeb' Jonathan Woss will be available shortly, or Alan Titchmarsh seems to pick things up and can grow new talent, or Katie Price who would sort out the Knockers in the club, or a Celeb' Chef? John Wilkinson has got to see that the longer the SLUG is at the helm It will be a complete waste of money building the new ground, because what he puts out on the field is driving fans away, last night there were long term fans who went into the club long before the end because they like me were too upset to carry on watching our club being raped by the SLUG.

SACK THE SLUG

so who would we get to coach us then......PLEASE do not say Alker

I thought last night's performance was up there with the worst I've seen - and I've been going now for sixty years!

I don't think you can fault the players' efforts. Those seventeen on duty tried but they lacked organisation and a game plan that could have worked. Someone said to me last night that we didn't have a Plan B. I told him I didn't think we had a Plan A!!

Defensively we were clueless. We gave Crusaders ten metres at every play the ball and stood still most of the time to give them free yards. When we had the ball they moved forward quickly in a line as we played the ball so we could not build up momentum and make yards. Why are we not organised like that? That is down to bad coaching. The smaller pack gave the bigger men space and time. A recipe for disaster.

At no time was any thought given to counter-acting the high kick to our right side defence. It needed a bigger man out there to try to counteract the threat that led to five tries I think. We had Sibbit available on the bench - not that he's a first choice centre or wing - but after conceding two tries there it would have made sense for some attempt to be made to eliminate that threat - but no plan was put into action. Again that's down to the coach.

Our kicking game was awful. rarely did we turn their full back; our chase was usually enthusiastic but lacked numbers often - again something the coach should rectify. Perhaps the kickers practise regularly - but extra work needs to be done to improve them - and quickly. Perhaps Holdsworth should be in more of a half back role and controlling play from the centre. I would like to see him paired at half back with Ratchford.

If our small pack continues to play one man rugby against bigger teams, averaging thirty metres in every set of six against the opposition's sixty metres then we are always going to be on the back foot. Give the ball some air some of the time please. We could at least try to play rugby, but until the pack starts to dominate other packs we are in trouble. Crusaders did the basics more quickly than us ( not very difficult I admit ) and as a unit. Like any other Brian Noble team they dominated the tackle and the area around the play the ball and we were always second best.

I worry about the rest of the season if Shaun Macrae stays in charge.

I'll be at Headingley on Friday night. Last year I took a photograph of the scoreboard at the end of the match. Somehow I don't think I'll be doing the same next Friday.

Spot on... I was told just that by 3 of the players 2 days before the start of pre-season training. I promise you 100% that this isn't something a bloke in the pub... or a taxi driver told me... it came direct to me from 3 first team regulars whilst chatting at a charity event.