news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 971894.stm Ridiculous statement from a coach. You TRAIN/COACH the players to be the best, that is what you are paid to do. You introduce young players into the system, you scout the local area to identify talent, nurture and develop it. Alternatively throw stupid amounts of cash at 2nd/3rd rate never will be overseas players and then still complain. It's called HARD work. It's not sitting talking as an "expert" on the box as your "expert" credentials are taking a hiding with statements such as that.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 971894.stm Ridiculous statement from a coach. You TRAIN/COACH the players to be the best, that is what you are paid to do. You introduce young players into the system, you scout the local area to identify talent, nurture and develop it. Alternatively throw stupid amounts of cash at 2nd/3rd rate never will be overseas players and then still complain. It's called HARD work. It's not sitting talking as an "expert" on the box as your "expert" credentials are taking a hiding with statements such as that.

Don't they have any players in the reserves? I'm sure I remember Steve Simms boasting of the fine player development at the Willows on Radio Manchester and Channel M during the licensing process.

of course this wont set off the widness fans at all will it.

Do they think Widnes would have made a better fist of things in terms of putting together a competitive side and getting fans through the turnstiles?

You could have some sympathy with his plight if the team were at least playing to their potential - sadly the players are simply not performing for him. Why did he let the likes of Ambler go in the off season if he knew he would have squad depth issues?



The crusaders on the other hand have run some teams close and do appear to be getting to grips with the competition and whilst they may not be winning games they are performing with some credit.



McRae is yesterday's man who comes across well on TV which masks his inabilities in other areas - he was a failure at Gateshead/Hull, South Sydney and Salford - how can McRae get a coaching job?

Salford have an average crowd of 4,863 from three matches, while Widnes have an average of 3,842 after the same amount of games.

Salford's average was helped greatly by the large travelling support from Wigan.

The push for Super League is a poisoned chalice for some. There's a lesson in here somewhere - come into this unprepared at your peril. Yes, admittedly Castleford did struggle at first - yoyo-ing back and forth but they did get a few surprise results and finished one season with 19 points. Hull KR is the model to follow - they made sure they were prepared - both on the field and in the pocket. Salford & Celtic look like tadpoles in an ocean at the moment. There's no doubt now that the three years grace is essential in the franchise process.

wasnt the franchising system supposed to weed out clubs that dont have sufficient funds to compete at the top level?

It probably will - give it time.

What this does tell us is that we dont have 14 SL quality teams



Probably not 12 if you include W1g4n and Bradford







But not to worry I'm sure Salford and Celtic will build in the next 3 years and get up to speed as Cas have done



Or they might not and will be stuck in 3 year downward spiral to oblivion



Franchising , it's the future

Castleford at the moment are proving the licence system right, they would have been relegated and now they are doing very well. Will it last? Who knows, but you can't doubt that they are stronger this year round.



Celtic aren't a bad side, they have had some very close results and practically had their pre-season wiped out.



I personally don't think Salford recruited enough in the close season and are relying on alot of players who played last season. The players they do have though will learn this year and be better next year, in theory!

No.







Stories of widespread bitter Widnes fans are grossly overstated on this site.

Spot on. The fans Wigan brought helped bump up our figures enormously. So did the thousands that Celtic and Quins brought in our other home games this season. Admittedly our attendance is crap but if you're going to throw your travelling support in to twist statistics then add the others as well.

Nobody mentioned Widnes fans.............apart from you just then.

Basically I think Salford are burdened this year with too many NL1 standard players.

When we were relegated in 2007 all contracts were null and void so the club had to sign up players again for NL1 who would not take one year deals. Castleford had the same kind of problem last year but now appear much stronger since they got shut of the dead wood and recruited new players.



Perhaps it would have been a better idea if the RFL had made all contracts null and void for players of clubs that won a franchise from NL1. It just seems to work one way in the players favour and not the clubs for me?



IMO there are far better quality reserve squad players at other clubs than Salford have in their first team this year.

Apart from when the team gets relegated.

This rule didn't help the bottom club avoid relegation because all the decent players in the team were tapped up by other clubs (Knowing they would be contract free) and totally lost interest half way through the season.



Surely the null and void contracts rule was to keep the best players in SL and not just for the financial benefit of the relegated club.

That'd work



Please come and sign for us and help us get into SL so we can dump you and bring some aussies over

there is no null and void rule, many clubs added these to contracts to prevent themselves paying SL level contracts in a league where you don't get £1mil from sky

Most NL players are on one year contracts anyway, only the 'star' players get anything above a year.



The coach/management team from the time they got relegated and then promoted would have had amply opportunity to weed out any players they didn't want to keep. They also had longer than previously promoted teams as they didn't have to wait to win the Grand final to sort out their team for this season.

Yes but many of them would have had promotion clauses in them ensuring the offer of the 1 st year back in SL



A simple incentive to stay on and ' repair ' the damage





Cas probably had them and have now got rid of who they didn't want

with the exception of paul white who should pack in playing(hah) altogether, who shouldn't have made the cut this year for salford?





Also, i heard mccrae on the radio yesterday, he really does sound at a very low ebb. it was a very strange thing to say.

Very poor post. Take it it's 'that time of the month'.

When i read the title i thought it was going to be about

Nigel Wood.



Well you live and learn