As Hughes is a 2nd rower, maybe he should be on the bench ahead of both Tuson and Flower?

Carvell not in the Wire squad. Good news.

Wire

4 Ryan Atkins
18 Matty Blythe
3 Chris Bridge
6 Lee Briers
17 Mike Cooper
33 Brad Dwyer
15 Simon Grix
20 Chris Hill
1 Brett Hodgson
21 Tyrone McCarthy
5 Joel Monaghan
9 Michael Monaghan
8 Adrian Morley
7 Richie Myler
2 Chris Riley
11 Trent Waterhouse
12 Ben Westwood
22 Rhys Williams
16 Paul Wood

Our forwards need to be greatly improved from last week for this game and Mossop being injured is a big blow for us going forward and making the hard yards.

We can't look at who's not playing but yes 'The Moose' is a loss. We have more than enough grunt and power up front to match Wire. We just need all 17 on top of their game and if that happens we'll pick up a win. If we are 10% off we'll lose! Come on Wigan!!

Is Brad Dwyer any relation to the ex saints/Bradfor player Bernard Dwyer.

Ben Harrison is also missing for Wire.
Carvell and Harrison are two big absentees for them as is Mossop for us.
Two very good teams, should be a cracker!

No. He's an Incer and there are quite a few of them.

I dont know about that, he has been gash lately.

He was awful at Leeds but he's a quality player and i'd rather have a guy like Tyrone McCarthy in the squad for Wire before Carvell.

Mossop and Fielden out for us and Carvell and Harrison out for them makes it pretty even so neither side can use injuries as an excuse. They also have Solomona missing but he's as likely to lose you a game as he is to win you one.

Theres some great match ups on Friday with none more exciting then Hock vs Westwood imo. I think Westwood is excellent and he was a player who probably took the most advantage out of Hocks stupidity in getting banned. His England career really took off in Hocks absence and he plays in a similar all action, aggressive style.

I wrote a match preview earlier today and mentioned that as one of the most interesting battles. They are both among the best forwards in the country, both very physical in defence and skilful in attack.
They also seem to get along very well off the field, which in rugby league usually means they'll be trying to get one over on each other all game.

Flower has to drop out of the 17 in my view, he was a liability defending behind the markers on Sunday. He seems to be a bit of a tweener, not big enough or strong enough to be a prop, and not mobile or fit enough to do the work of a second rower. He'll get badly exposed against a good side.

Both are in great form as well so it should be a great battle. I'd like to see Hock bend his back a little more in defence but he's been a powerhouse in attack and a supremely skillful one at that.

England look in a great position in the backrow if Burgess and Lockers can stay fit and Hock keeps his head down. The outside backs look excellent as well but sadly the halfbacks are still lacking.

It'll be worth the entrance fee alone, imo. An excellent backrower against an idiot that on his day can be world class is a battle i'll be paying particular attention too.

Not even the merest hint of bias in that opinion...

Hock has yet to convince me he's worth a Wigan shirt.

Quote ="Suzy Banyon"Hock has yet to convince me he's worth a Wigan shirt.'" wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=1164 He doesn't seem to be doing a bad job convincing most fans on here (3rd place in player of the season so far) and the coach (regular starter week in week out) Oh and not to mention the England RL coaching staff.

Quote ="Suzy Banyon"Hock has yet to convince me he's worth a Wigan shirt.'" wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=1164 He doesn't seem to be doing a bad job convincing most fans on here (3rd place in player of the season so far) and the coach (regular starter week in week out) Oh and not to mention the England RL coaching staff.

His consistent brain-farts and downright stupid play say otherwise to me.

Thats not all he is though. See the bigger picture. He is a match winner.

Examples of that this season?

I agree in the past he's made mistakes but he's been superb this season and that's all down to him finally playing with some maturity. He's not over playing with the ball, he's not making as many silly errors as in the past and is just so hard to put down.

The people who've watched him every week this season can't fail to be impressed but then 7 games doesn't make a season or a career. It's up to him to keep it going.

He was second to O'Loughlin in the tackles made and was not the only player missing tackles; he may not be prop but he is quick and fit enough to cover any of the back row psoitions

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Carmont
Richards
Finch
Leuluai
Prescott
McIlorum
Lauaki
Hock
Hansen
O'Loughlin

Lima
Flower
Farrell
Hughes



Have gone with Lima on the bench to add a little bite at rotation time, and Hughes is in there for 2 reasons. Mainly to cover for George in case he has a problem (possibly his fitness if the game is quick. He hasn't played for a month don't forget) but if George is ok then he can play in the SR and let H or Hock puch up into the front row if things are going wrong in that department.

MM needs to start in defence like he did against Leeds, Catalans and the GF against Stains. We MUST shut Monaghan down. Without him, Briers can't play his normal game either.

does nobody think flower is like hansen a few season ago? plenty of attitude and willingness but not the body to match it? flower will only improve just as hansen has.

Tony Smith said Monaghan struggled on Sunday after Wakey targeted him because he lacked match fitness. I believe he's had ops on both knees so it may take him a few weeks to get up to speed.

The 2 players I always want to see us target are Monaghan and Westwood. Michael Mobaghan is such a clever hooker and he's the heartbeat of their side even more so then Briers. As for Westwood he's their pack leader and if you let him run riot the rest of their pack will follow.

This season he has easily been one of our best players and is getting better every game. Still got a long way to keep it going this season but so far so good imo.