I thought Mellor had already served his suspension? It was only a 1 match ban as far as I'm aware.

For me the benefit of moving O'Loughlin to the halves isn't more game time for Farrell and Tuson but more game time for Jack Hughes.


Edit: Mellor definitely isn't suspended for this game. He was banned for one match on the June 3rd and Widnes played London on the 9th so he's free to play.

Still think Waney has ear-marked the no.7 spot for Sam Powell as he has played there last 3 seasons in academy and U-18's over 60+ games, so has been playing the wigan way for a while.

Sam Powell would have been put in I think if he wasn't coming back from a serious injury himself. This sort of opportunity would have been ideal to try him there (like Sam and Tim Smith) but he's only back available for under 20s in 2-3 weeks. He'd then need a good few games in that level to be anywhere near ready for first team IMO. He may be ready for the last 3 or 4 weeks that Tommy's out but by then we may have found the right solution for the problem

Yeah, I really should know better than to go off anything the WEP says.

Id quite like to see us go

1. Sam Tomkins 2. Josh Charnley 3. Darrell Goulding 4. George Carmont 5. Anthony Gelling 6. Sean O'Loughlin 7. Brett Finch 8. Lee Mossop 9. Logan Tomkins 10. Ephalame Lauaki 11. Jack Hughes 12. Gareth Hock 13. Mike McIlorum SUBS 14. Jeff Lima 15. Paul Prescott 16. Chris Tuson 17. Ben Flower

against Widnes.

I'd go with that side because you aren't losing out a pivot by moving McIlorum to 13 when Lockers moves to 6.

Farrell?

Against Widnes it should be:

S Tomkins; Charnley, Goulding, Carmont, Gelling; O'Loughlin, Finch; Lauaki, McIlorum, Mossop; Farrell, Hock, Tuson -- Subs: L Tomkins, Hughes, Lima, Prescott

If Prescott isn't available then Flower should come in and if he's also not available then Crosby or Spencer.

On a side note. I think most of our players are looking pretty fresh right now. Most have just had a week off which should do them the world of good. I'd just be looking to rest the trio of Lima, Lockers and Sam over the next few weeks. Not all at the same time of course. But these three are the only one's to have not had a rest this season either through injury, suspension or being overlooked internationally.

Would be interesting to see what Wane does if he chooses to rest Tomkins. He's said he would recall Russell at some point but he also seems happy to keep him there right now. Jack Murphy has done well for the under 20's at fullback and has been on the fringes of the squad for a while so he might get a game.

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/18538369[/url

Interesting comments from Wane, particularly with regards to George Williams.

Stevo seemed to suggest on backchat we should make a move to bring in Matty Smith early this year to get him ready now Tommys out. Don't see the harm to us if we did but its unfair on Salford I suppose, I disagree with it being the right option though

haven't seen him play personally but however if there good enough there old enough, it does seem with our run of games now that he will play in some part, interesting to see how he goes if he does play

Has anybody seen George Williams play for the academy this season? Has he got the physical attributes to stop a prop running over the top of him, and can he kick well?

Williams is still a little on the small side but he's a good defender for his position and his age. He's a good kicker, decent runner (although not as good as Hampshire) and his passing game is pretty good. Can't really judge how well he'd go at Super League level until he plays.

I do think it's a massive leap from playing against 15-16 year olds last year to facing 17 stone men this year.

Can he kick conversions?

Yes. He's not first choice for the under 18's as that's Hampshire but I'm pretty sure he's kicked a few this year.

Deacon is coming out of retirement .................


For lockers testimonial