Pre season game 1- Rochdale away

San Panapa was a favourite of mine and although when we got him his best days were behind him at Wigan, I thought it was a good bit of business as part of the O'Connor deal to get a wedge plus a player of his calibre and we still got a good couple of seasons from him.

Salford won by a lot. Greg Johnson scored 4 tries. I think he will do well this year.

Johnson got 3. They announced him as the scorer of the last one but it was Bibby who got it
Brinning was excellent in the first half, esp the first 20 mins.
Evalds was my mom, looked dangerous every time he got the ball, esp at full back and he did ok at Centre too.
BMM's injury looked nasty but he was walking on by end of match (but limping heavily with a big splint/support type thing). Hopefully GOB was just concussion and he'll be right soon (he's tweeted as much)
Griffin worked like a Trojan, Mossop ran on to the ball faster than I've seen a Salford prop for a while, had good footwork at times but made pretty much 0 progress after impact, Tasi looked strong when he came on, Krasniqi and Walne did the usual you would expect
A lot of the big guns struggled to fire - Sau tried hard but didn't impact much til a great break near the end (although he did get a try!), Lui was hot and cold, Jones was quiet, Dobson was solid, Carney similar to Sau
Wilkinson came on in 2nd half and did ok, looked like he wasn't always on same wave length as his half backs or his forwards so maybe hasn't had the practice time with them that Brinning has or maybe the ex-York lad is just a cut above
Wood came on for last 15 and did pretty well - good range of passing and decent support. Decent conversion or 2 from out wide. Didn't have the pace to finish off Sau's break which was a shame cos it was a great move but I think he shipped the ball wide to give Sau the chance to break and was there in support
Bibby looked lively when he came on
Welham had good hands and a nice step and looked solid
Murray came on but I don't think he had a drive. Seemed unsure where to be to get the ball but made a couple of dummy runs and linked as a runaround once well
Our goal kicking was great. We only missed 2 and most were out wide - GOB, Dobbo and Wood all nailed some

As a team our attacking structures looked good with some excellent moves, our passing was mostly sharp and the link from halves to full back worked well as we had plenty of players going forward. Defensively we were patchy, we struggled to control the ruck for large portions of the game which allowed them to make easy yards up the middle. Our discipline wasn't great. Rochdale turned up with spoiling tactics and were allowed to hold down a lot but we didn't have to join in. I can see how at times our players felt they had to defend themselves cos the ref wasn't doing it but if we give that many penalties a way against an SL team we will struggle

Overall we did what we had to - first and last 20 were good, we dropped intensity in the middle 40 which was worrying but I think that is because we got involved in the niggle. Rochdale looked like they could go well this year. Plenty to both worry and provide optimism for us so I guess that makes it a worthwhile friendly

I hope this means we can look at a few additions, even if they're just on loan as cover. We've got a tough start as it is.

Think Lannon will need to step up to replace BMM, more than capable of being a high quality SL back rower, Jones is more a blow for me as he is just about the first name I'd put on the sheet each week.

Welham/Evalds/Sa'u/Bibby for the centres spots
Lannon/Walne/Hauraki and play either Griffin or Krasniqi in the back row as or if required.

Still think we are a player or two light and reckon we will bring someone in, fingers crossed BMM isn't out for long.