WOLVES SQUAD

4 Ryan Atkins; 33 Ryan Bailey; 9 Daryl Clark; 16 Brad Dwyer; 3 Rhys Evans; 1 Kurt Gidley; 8 Chris Hill; 12 Jack Hughes; 18 George King; 24 Toby King; 2 Tom Lineham; 26 Declan Patton; 25 Joe Philbin; 6 Stefan Ratchford; 5 Matty Russell; 7 Chris Sandow; 10 Ashton Sims; 14 Joe Westerman; 27 Sam Wilde

So Dwyer is back, would you play Sandow from the bench?

Ratchford
Lineham
Evans
Atkins
Russell
Gidley
Patton
Hill
Clark
Sims
Wilde
Hughes
Westerman

Dwyer
Bailey
King
Sandow or King no idea. So Philbin and one of the other two to miss out.

Pretty much as everyone predicted, starting team the same with Bailey in for Philbin but the big question is now Dwyer or Sandow on the bench....or Toby King for Sandow.

You would expect George King to be nailed on.

Sandow to miss out. I want a bench full of forwards against the goons. we have enough utility players who can cover if needs be

I imagine Sandow is in the 19 to keep the Wigan camp on edge.

19 is as I predicted


Discussion point is the bench

Bailey (if properly fit) in for Philbin - Joe has done nothing wrong but Bailey has big match experience and teams are really wary of him. He niggles which is good from Wire point.
Sandow (if 90% fit) to replace Smith. (Several options for spelling Clark - Dec could go there or Toby. Not ideal)
Otherwise Dwyer to replace Smith.
Both Kings on the bench.


moving on....
Last time we were nobbled by losing 2 backs to the goons......

I have to say Philbins stats from the last game were good. One thing does Wilde miss out and one of the others play instead? Wilde is a good defender but does not carry the ball enough as an attacking threat. Does Philbin or George King drop in instead?

Without Dwyer you would say Sandow definitely on the bench but I can't imagine we will go with both.

I'm aware of that. I was sat in the Stretford end with my head in my hands groaning and watching from one half open eye as I saw Briers go to fullback. However... A bench full of forward laying a better platform will win this game. Out of their back line I only really fear Gelling. in their halves Williams.

If we can get Williams banged early on that's job 1 done. Job two is pressuring Matty Smith. love him or hate him, his kicking game is world class. under pressure its bang average. Job three is our sliding defence and not giving Gelling a sniff of a chance.

So long, Kevin Penny.
It was nice to watch you in a Wire jersey

I've not been a fan of wilde, but its one of those things, are players more effective starting or coming off the bench, i've never been that impressed him coming off the bench, starting he's not that bad.

He's earned his spot, Philbin had a good(ish) game last week but he's been patchy, i say purely on size bailey comes back in .

Morgan Smith's exclusion can only mean that Sandow is fit enough to play, though I doubt he'll be in the starting 13. Any form of injury niggle between now and game day and Dwyer has to play, if not then maybe Sandow's worth risking for the unpredictability he brings. Other bench spots have to be the King brotehrs and Bailey - though again with Bailey, if there are any injury niggles before the game then Philbin has to get the bench spot.

O'Loughlin not in the Wigan squad....

I am surprised at O'Loughlin is not in the squad for them.....

Real shame for Penny missing out.

You know what with all this umming and ahhing about Sandow, Bailey etc, watch us go and lose Hill in the first five minutes!

We can't really rule Sandow in or out as we don't know just how fit he is. For me he's either fit enough for 80 minutes or he doesn't play.

Bench should be Dwyer, Bailey, King, King. Toby King spelling Wilde, and offering us cover for 1 - 7

I fully expect the Thug Wane to have a card marked with Gidley's name on it.
Not rocket science to work out we fall to pieces when he is took out.
If Sandow is fit, we could mix it with Ratchford and him if that happens.

When Thugs took out Ratchford they knew without Hodgson we would implode. It's wether we have enough backs when/if Gidley is took out....and mark my words, they will target him.

Here's a scenario....

Wane orders a number on Gidley.
Who to put on it?
Giving that someone may risk a ban...
The job goes out to Crosby!!?

Agent Crosby you mean? They will be very physical that's for sure but we should be able to match it and handle it.

look at this belter

Couldnt make it up....

Hahahaha I have actually just read that on their page, I nearly broke my phone spitting tea all over it!

No, if we learnt anything from the 2013 Final it was not to have 4 forwards on the bench again.

TBF the Westwood on green incident was bad, however the fact that nobody really mentions it tells you all you need to know about acts that overshadowed that incident in that particular match. We had 1 interchange left, carvel carrying on with a broken Rib and Myler forced to stay on with an ankle injury.

Still we do have form for trying to take out their halves, I mean I'm literally going to list all the times we have successfully taken one of their backs out of a game:





Oh.