If they're all fit-

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Gelling
Richards
Powell
Smith
Mossop
Tomkins
Lauaki
Hansen
Hughes
Farrell

Subs
Crosby
Burke
Tuson
Williams



Lloyd and Spencer to miss out for me. I'd give Hughes a start in his 'proper' position and tell him he needs to up his game. I'd also have Williams spelling at hooker with Tomkins. He's the type of young player that has the confidence to make a real name for himself in this type of game.

Tough ask to even run them close here but its another exciting team to watch.

tomkins
charnley
goulding
gelling
richards
powell
smith
mossop
l tomkins
crosby
hansen
farrell
burke

lauaki
spencer
tuson
williams

as long as spencer is fit. if not, hughes on bench for spencer.

hansen in his proper position , faz at loose,crosby stater prop and burke at bench prop and i'll go with that

S. Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Gelling/Hughes
Richards
Powell
Smith
Lauaki
L. Tomkins
Mossop
Hansen
Farrell
Burke

Crosby
Spencer
Tuson
Williams

I'm still a bit unsure of whether Gelling is a SL standard centre and whether Wire away is the game to try him out. Richards didn't seem entirely comfortable early on in the season with Thornley there after years with George on his inside. Gelling has shown positional frailties on the wing which would only be worsened playing at centre, and I think our LHS would be peppered all night.

Just spoken with jack hughes in morrisons at LSV and he says he is definately playing

Looks like we're going to struggle on Monday.

We may well do, but this season could well be a last hurrah for this current Wire set up.

I wonder about Wire and their future after the next year or two. I admire them as a team and them being a strong side is good for the game but their strategy of buying cracking players over the past 5 years will now probably have to change. If you think that they signed guys like Hodgson, Monaghan x 2, Morley, Carvell etc in that time and all will probably be gone sooner rather then later how do they replace them? Guys like Hodgson and Micky Monaghan aren't coming over here anymore from Oz and none of the British lads look like rushing back either.

Their youth set up is the saving grace for them but to ask a kid to step in to a Morley or a hodgsons shoes is a tough ask. We've obviously got our own issues to deal with as well but our youngsters are probably a couple of further years on. I went to an u20's GF a couple of years back between the sides and from our side you see lads like Hughes, Crosby, Logan Tomkins, Sam Powell etc playing on a regular basis. Wire had a cracking side that year yet I don't think any of them are getting a regular game now apart from Currie (if he was playing, guess he was).

In a funny way us having a good few injuries may help us long term.

Would love to see gelling in the centres for a change

The only thing I would like to see is a plan B.
Have something that makes you try something different if your attack is being stifled, which as happened in the past when facing the Wire.
It is better to try something different when things are going against you than not try at all.

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Gelling
Richards
Powell
Smith
Mossop
Logan
Lauaki
Farrell
Tuson
Burke

Hansen
Hughes
Williams
Crosby

For me

Hansen on the bench? We'll need his defence big time and he's the most experienced player we'll have out there. Definite starter.

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Gelling
Richards
Powell
Smith
Lauaki
Tomkins
Mossop
Hansen
Farrell
Tuson

Crosby
Hughes
Williams
Burke

good point but our youth system was scrapped back when we were in financial trouble and has only been back up and running for the last 10-12 years or so and is now starting to bear fruit. currently through our youth we have

chris riley
ben harrison
ben currie
gaz o'brien - at saints currently (loan)
brad dwyer - at hudds (loan)
rhys evans - injured? last i heard
rhys williams
mike cooper - (going aus next year)
glenn riley - (going nz warriors next year)
james laithewaite
saltensall
mendeika - at london (loan)
tyrone mccarthy
danny bridge - (before you say it yes we bought him from your youth system)
matty blythe - at bradford (loan)
ben evans - at bradford (loan)


there are others but will leave it there but i am in full agreement that wigans youth system is lightyears ahead of the rest but in 10-12 years we have had ours we have some promising talent showing now

but yes we are in for a worrying off season if the rumours are true of us losing

morley - salford
carvell - bradford
and on top as prev mentioned cooper and riley going NRL that is 4 front rowers in one hit thats going to have an effect if we cant replace with quality and yes our youth is probably a bit far off to replace that experience

It's certainly heading in the right direction and in a way these kids have been held back a little by both the quality in the Wire squad and that injuries have been reasonably kind.

I think everyone's in a boat of uncertainty at the minute in terms if how they replace their best players. The quality isn't coming over from the NRL and the best players from over here are going as well.

I suppose all fans over here ever said was we need more English players coming through. There's rafts and rafts at the minute and if in the next few years we can get some investment in the game and buck the trend of lads going to the NRL these last few years worth of pain could have a massive long term influence.

definately the right direction and i may be in the minority that say that these young lads should get more opportunity. yes we may lose a few games but in the long run it would be priceless, it has to be better than just sending them to swinton?

I wonder how many times Eddie will mention how many players we're missing. Off the top of my head:

Green
McIlorum
O'Loughlin
Flower
Prescott
Dudson
Thornley
Taylor

Granted I would say only Green, McIlorum, O'Loughlin, Flower, Prescott and Thornley would get in the 17 if every squad member was fit but that didn't stop Eddie and his "Leeds are missing 10 first team players" comments last Monday when it was realistically only 5 or 6.

Taylor and dudson would be in mine.
Flower and mossop being the other 2 props.

Taylor and dudson would be in mine.
Flower and mossop being the other 2 props.

I'm so glad I'll be in the ground tonight listening to Bilko rather than that twonk on the telly.

I'd love to do a comparison between how much they actually talk about what's happening on the pitch and how much time they spend having their own conversation.

Lauaki missing tonight with a hamstring strain. Chance for Tom Spencer (if he's fit)

I wonder if Powell could be a surprise inclusion?

This is all a bit worrying with these injuries sustained in training - reminiscent of last year when the same thing happened. SW said that Thornley was injured in training - and how did Turner get injured? He seemed ok when scoring the decisive try with only a few minutes to go in the Widnes game?

Or maybe SW is making sure we have 2 props ( Taylor and Lauaki) fully fit, not suffering any knocks and raring to go on Friday against Cas.......

It was this time last season when things started to go wrong - end of June defeat to Bradford at home after the Exiles games, then CC capitulation to Leeds a few weeks later. I really hope SW and the coaching staff have learnt from this.

Bloody hell, yet another! I suppose it's a possible, it's a bit of a baptism of fire throwing him into his first game against the hardest pack we'll face all year but I suppose he should be big and strong enough. 20 minutes to give Mossop a breather?

Id love to see Powell make his debut tonight

Powell playing would be great - particularly if he mixes it with some of the Warrington pack. Morley, Westwood, Carvell etc - nothing to lose really!