Bradford Bulls v Wigan Warriors - Stobart Super League XVII Round 3.
Sunday 19th February 2012. Kick Off 3:00pm at Odsal Stadium.

Match Preview

That pack, and in particular Vianikolo, were unstoppable at times. Now look at their squad today and I'm struggle to pick out one player that I can say Wigan need to really worry about. Maybe that's naive of me, but from a team that used to have seven or eight danger players to have disintegrated into a team that has hardly any......well I find it very sad for the Bulls supporters. The turn of the last decade promised so much for that club but yet they are left with a grim ground, a grim team and grim prospects in the near future. I hope sincerely that the club gets the new ground it deserves!

Now that's not to say Bradford can't beat us. On their day they can cause problems, as they proved two years ago when they inflicted our only away defeat of the whole season, but looking at that squad I find it hard to see them doing anything over than scraping into the top 8 at best.

For Wigan, well we've seen two sides to them so far. A way off the pace performance against Huddersfield and an excellent hard working victory over Leeds. It's up to the lads now to prove at Odsal that last week's effort will be the norm. If they put in the hard work like that, the rest will just fall into place.

The kicking game needs to now become consistent. It was far better against Leeds. Still a lot of improvement in it, but it's a start!

Personally I've been very impressed with the pack effort in both games. I think its been very hard working and efficient. Lee Mossop has continued were he left off in 2011. Surely he has to be a shoe-in for the two match series England play against "The Exiles" in June and July? The return of Liam Farrell boosts our pack further also.

The biggest thing I want to look at this weekend is Jack Hughes at centre. He was very solid defensively against Leeds, didn't look out of place at all, but it was a very defensive game so we didn't really get much chance to see how he goes in attack. We should have plenty of attacking opportunities this weekend, so hopefully he can go well. He might have too because reports suggest Anthony Gelling had another excellent performance in the Under 20s victory at Bradford on Thursday and I see he has made the 19 for this one.

All in all, got to be honest, I expect a Wigan win here and with a good win. I think after two tough opponents to start with, we will begin hit our straps in attack. Wouldn't put Baby Josh past claiming another hat-trick but we shall see. I am the worlds worst predictor after all!

19 Man Squads

Bradford

IN:l	Keith Lulia, Paul Sykes, Michael Platt
OUT:l	Adrian Purtell, Ian Sibbit, James Donaldson
Fulll19:l	Brett Kearney, Keith Lulia, Chev Walker, Elliott Kear, Ben Jeffries, Luke Gale, Nick Scruton, Heath L'Estrange, Craig Kopczak, Elliott Whitehead, Jamie Langley, Matt Diskin, Bryn Hargreaves, Tom Burgess, Jarrod Sammut, Jason Crookes, Paul Sykes, Michael Platt, Phil Joseph.

Match Referee

Steve Ganson (St Helens) - Age 42
First Pro Game: Barrow 21 Carlisle 20 - 27th August 1995
First Super League Game: Castleford 22 Paris 18 - 17th August 1996
First Wigan Game: Halifax 18 Wigan 46 - 18th May 1997

Wigan's Record when this referee is appointed

Wigan have Won 51 and Lost 22 (4 draws) from 77 appointments.
This Season: First Appointment

Video Referee

Not in use for this fixture

Current Super League XVII League Positions

Wigan v Bradford Player Stat Leaders

Super League Era Head to Head Record including Play Offs

Super League Era - Average Final Score

Last Six Meetings at Odsal Stadium

Ticket Details

UK TV Coverage

Radio Commentary

BBC Radio Manchester (95.1FM) - Main Commentary Match whilst also updating on Widnes v Salford.

Bilko's Statistical prediction.

The stats suggest a Wigan Win by 12 Points.

Weather Forecast

Nippy.