Can Salford do it?

[Fairleigh Good!]

18 man squads are in for the St Helens v Salford game. Top plays bottom, surely they can't win?

Hang on though, this is Saints we are talking about. Daniel Anderson gets cocky and goes and rests half his squad:

1 - Dave Hull
2 - Ade Gardner
3 - Willie Talau
4 - Lee Gilmour
5 - Francis Meli
6 - Leon Pryce
7 - Matty Smith
8 - Nick Fozzard
9 - Keiron Cunningham
10 - Jason Cayless
11 - Paul Sculthorpe
12 - James Graham
13 - Bryn Hargreaves

14 - Kyle Eastmond
15 - Scott Moore
16 - Steven Tyrer
17 - Paul Clough

18 - Dean McGilvray

Juggle the 18 men however you want. It means either local amateur Dave Hull or 17 year old Kyle Eastmond have a jersey for the first time.

I think it is possible to get a solid enough 13 onto the field out of those names, but the bench will resemble the queue outside the headmasters office in most high schools.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Players confirmed NOT playing who are regulars in the 17 include:

Sean Long
Paul Wellens
Jon Wilkin
Matt Gidley
Maurie Fa'asavalu
Mike Bennett
James Roby

 

[ash the bash]

I hope Salford stay up but not at the expense of Hull KR, go the mighty Robbins it would alot better for ESL for Wakefield to go under plus if Salford do get that new stadium it gonna help come franchises....

The ESL needs the Hull Derby plus KR have been getting solid crowds for a club just promoted...

 

[ash the bash]

Opps ignorant me thought u were talking about prom-relegtion lol..
i think Saints will still get up thou... but Salford may be more desperate

 

[bartman]

Players confirmed NOT playing who are regulars in the 17 include:

Sean Long
Paul Wellens
Jon Wilkin
Matt Gidley
Maurie Fa'asavalu
Mike Bennett
James Roby

Are any of these guys legitimately injured, or is Anderson just doing some resting/squad rotation?

If ever Salford had a chance it's this week...

 

[The Electric Horseman]

My monies still on Saints

 

[JasonE]

I think Dave Hull will be the one to drop out of that 18, thats a very young Saints squad.

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

Why not? With McRae at the helm soon, theyll want to impress him! C'mon Reds!

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

Can Salford win? Nah, still too much class in that Saints team (as much as I would love for Anderson's arrogance to come back and bite him on the arse). But I wish I had of checked the squads before I went down to bet. We're getting 22.5 for Salford down here and 13/1 for the win!

 

[madred]

18 man squads are in for the St Helens v Salford game. Top plays bottom, surely they can't win?

Hang on though, this is Saints we are talking about. Daniel Anderson gets cocky and goes and rests half his squad:

1 - Dave Hull
2 - Ade Gardner
3 - Willie Talau
4 - Lee Gilmour
5 - Francis Meli
6 - Leon Pryce
7 - Matty Smith
8 - Nick Fozzard
9 - Keiron Cunningham
10 - Jason Cayless
11 - Paul Sculthorpe
12 - James Graham
13 - Bryn Hargreaves

14 - Kyle Eastmond
15 - Scott Moore
16 - Steven Tyrer
17 - Paul Clough

18 - Dean McGilvray

Juggle the 18 men however you want. It means either local amateur Dave Hull or 17 year old Kyle Eastmond have a jersey for the first time.

I think it is possible to get a solid enough 13 onto the field out of those names, but the bench will resemble the queue outside the headmasters office in most high schools.

This week is as good of a chance we are probably likely to get at KR, but forget about the names of the 2 clubs and all behind the scenes its 17 v 17

In comparison tonight, our backline will be far superior, but saints pack probably just edge it but they look rather week on the bench

 

[coldhardbitch]

I don't think they can win, but they can stay up. Hull KR for the drop for me.

 

[Evil Homer]

Reckon Salford must be fairly poor if they can't win tonight.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

I think Dave Hull will be the one to drop out of that 18, thats a very young Saints squad.

I'm not sure how he'll approach the starting 13. The papers are suggesting Eastmond will play fullback, but to throw a guy who has just turned 17 and is a scrum half in at fullback seems a risky approach.

Dave Hull is now what 21/22? Surely he would be a more likely starter? But Anderson could go with McGilvray or Pryce.

I think the 18th man decision may be decided by the fitness tests a couple are having.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Are any of these guys legitimately injured, or is Anderson just doing some resting/squad rotation?

If ever Salford had a chance it's this week...

I think Long is legimately injured, but the rest, were it Cup Final week, would be playing. I'm sure if push came to shove they could medically prove they are unfit to play, but I'm sure most players could do that at this stage of the season.

 

[JasonE]

Unbelievable, Salford led all game and at one stage by 12 but a Matty Smith drop goal with two minutes to go won it for Saints 27-26.

 

[bartman]

Heart breaking for Salford. To be that close and lose at the end probably hurts twice as hard than another big loss.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Fantastic game. I've not been so excited walking away from a game in years. Dominating the domestic scene once seemed like a dream, but now it's materialised it's not as easy to get excited.

Tonight was different. Because of the youth on display there was more passion, more effort, more desperation to win.

Salford were superb for an hour feeding off Saints mistakes and capitalising superbly. Then when victory was close they seemed to be intimidated by the prospect and Saints clawed their way back. Cunningham finished off an absolutely insane try after some basketball handling from Saints and an absolute wonder pass from Sculthorpe.

Matty Smith won the game with a drop goal and was superb throughout, his best game for Saints to date. Pryce, Sculthorpe and Meli stood up and raised their already superb games to another level and it inspired the youngsters. An absolutely breathless game.

The only negative on the night for me was what seemed from where I was stood to be a shocking attack on Eastmond's head by Luke Robinson. Eastmond was waiting for a bomb to drop, caught it and was felled by what seemed to be a closed fist from Robinson on a stiff arm. Lights out for the 17 year old 18 minutes into his career. This wasn't put on report though, so perhaps I'm being harsh on Robinson I'm not sure. Cunningham seemed to remember it though as he broke Robinson's nose with his shoulder after absolutely smashing him in the second half with a great hit which was perfectly legal, Robinson's head dropping onto his shoulder due to the impact. He had a few words to say to Robinson after that as did Jason Cayless. Eastmond looks some player though, despite playing at fullback and he did return late on.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

And to add to the hurt for Salford they hit the post with a drop goal on their last set of the game.