Leigh

I thought Brierley was outstanding in attack and defence tonight. Deserved mom. Croft had some moments of class. Sneyd’s kicking game was good but his passing was poor. Lafai made some excellent defensive reads and done string carries. Williams did really well under the high ball. He was really targeted and responded well.

The pack was all solid. Ackers was very good, sent the markers the wrong way all night. Props good without being great. Stone made a solid debut. Watkins was his usual class self. Partington was outstanding

Small note - Atkin had a very good short spell. I thought he was really important to us hanging on while Sneyd was in bin.

I thought the kicking game was very poor, not what I expect from Sneyd. They seemed to catch the ball on the full every time and return it to at least their 30m, especially on the second half. We rarely split the FB and W and found the ground. It would have been better to smash it out the back, give them seven tackles from the 20m with a set line.and a short breather. We gave away too many penalties too, a lot fo six agains for infringements in the tackle. We need to tidy that up as we had to defend a lot.

That said, I'm not having a go, just small observations. I thought we were brilliant overall. Very gritty. Very tough. Excellent defence throughout. Croft had a couple of class moments with his assists. Brierley was awesome and saved two tries. We scored three tries on very little field position. Our attitude and composure was spot on. The togetherness and willingness to work for each other was clear to see. It was a really impressive win under tough circumstances - promoted team, spent money and have plenty of experience, lots of feel good and high morale, big crowd, bad weather, not a ground we tend to do well at. We rode out a very difficult game and came away with a superb win.

Was a solid game from both sides. Early season games always have a disjointed feel as teams shuffle off their rustiness. Saying that, I thought both teams did a good job of keeping the errors down and maintained enthusiasm all match. Hats-off to Leigh with their pre-game stuff. Pretty spectacular and will probably be the bar that others have to match this season. I wouldn't be too disappointed as a Leigh fan as I thought that they played in a way that I've never seen Leigh play before. Controlled and focused. I think ultimately, the fact that Salford were more cohesive and clinical is down to SL experience and keeping the majority of our team together for a change.

I thought we were defensively very good all over the park and noticed we game manged very well when controlling ruck speed and containing Leigh's momentum. Big shout to Partington who lead from the front and revels in that enforcer role. A type of player we've not had for many years. Brierley was outstanding as well, never put a foot wrong. Williams was solid. Watkins worked very hard. Croft was sublime, especially for creating a couple of assists. Lafai was, well, Lafai his usual handful in attack and defence.

While it wasn't our usual Harlem globetrotters type of victory it was an impressive enough win for me at a difficult ground against a decent side. Just getting the first victory at the LSV is a good sign for us I think. Listening to Brierley interviewed after the game and his response to Jenna Brooks question "At any point were you worried that Leigh would get on top?" was the most telling difference for me in Salford of old and new Salford...

His answer was a nonchalant "Not really, we knew if we kept the intensity for the first twenty minutes we'd get on top"

I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but I've never seen Salford players so confident in their abilities and attitude.

Anyway, a good first win that was a tricky fixture and Leigh shouldn't be overly dishearted as they have enough to do okay this season.

I'm really pleased with that win and happy with the performance.

I can only echo what Redunderthebed and Carnster have already said but I'd also add that I thought Rhys Williams had a solid game too, especially in defense under the high ball.

It was a potential banana skin with all the focus on Leigh building up to the game. I'm glad we put them to the sword but judging from what I saw last night I don't think they will be pushovers for many teams.

Hopefully we can push on with another win on Thursday night.

Yes sadly to me Smith always seems bit unaware and a bit of a Homer. With you on the offsides I couldn’t see what he was judging
Just watched the Saints game, with absolutely top class reffing. I think only a couple of penalties for offside and with Saints they’re always in the edge.
But he tries to do a job and we need him , so we must thank him for doing a ‘thankless’ job….I certainly couldn’t do it

Great win last night. Credit to Beaumont, made it a real event. No concerns about rustiness in attack, that will come. Watkins, Brierley, Sio all bouncing back well from injuries. Reason to get excited, solid solid defence, no let up even after the sin binning. If we keep this up even I might have to consider looking upwards rather than just wondering who is getting the 12th spot 😁