I don't think the same applies for Westwood, he's fairly mobile for his size and an excellent tackler. Wire do have players that could be weak against smaller and quicker players the structured way that Wigan play means that the chances of targeting those players is pretty slim. When Wire attack they spread the ball wide and offload and it's the small players receiving those offloads and running one on one against slower forwards which can cause some damage.

Cant agree with you on Westwood, I dont beleive he is that 'mobile', he tends to grab at players running at him and has a 'lazy' arm shall we call it, hence, he has been known to give away penalties for high tackles.

i disagree...........start Tommy at 9.....hit footwork and a couple of big hits will keep monaghan quiete, then let Micky come off the bench and beat up whats left of him.
a fresh monaghan will run rings roung Micky imo.

just keep sending attackers into holes at the side of westwood......hes garuanteed to conceded abot 200 metres in penalties with his swinging arms.....maybe even get a sin bin.

Last time we play Warrington we were missing Pat from the wing and also missing Joel Tomkins. Our backs looked very weak and we also had Finch playing his first game and he was un fit and also Leuluai playing at 7 with Deacon missing. This meant we had to go most of the night with McIlorum at hooker which didn't help us.
We also had Roberts on the bench who was also not fit and we had Tuson on the bench who is not as good as Hock or Farrell.

In 2010 we went into the game with 3 props at home, we got beat in the forwards despite a decent effort. We had Roberts at FB despite Sams form in that position and Roberts was still not fit. We had Sam and Leuluai at 6 and 7, we all know thats not our best half back pairing, Deacon and Finch showed them how its done in our recent run of games.

I am not making excuses for these losses, Warrington were superb in both games. What I am saying is that I believe we are now better equipped than we were for those games. We have the added agression coming into the team with 4 props out there and also with Hock playing (hopefully). We have a settled half-back partnership along with hookers who can interchange.

This is exactly why I feel a little more confident going into this game. Past few games against Warrington i'll admit i've gone in deep down thinking we dont even have a chance, I have a little bit more optimisim for this game but it could still go either way.

Its going to be a fantastic game.

But you're meant to say that Warrington are the best team and we aren't going to win



In all seriousness, I can't call it, but it is clear that the team we put out on Saturday will be stronger than the team we put out against wire earlier in the season. If we play as we can, like at saints, then we can and will win. If we don't then wire are second in the league for a reason and, if they play well, they will win. I'm very happy with the squad that we will most likely put out, and (despite me originally being against the signing) Cross is a welcome addition to a front row that would have been lacking with Fielden and Prescott out.

Good point about you missing players.

In that last game we had Atkins, King and Anderson missing.

So no excuses on either side then?
I'm with Odemwingie on this one though. Last years loss we played with only 2 props and this year we were missing 2 with Finch uncohesive in the halves and no Pat/Joel/Deacon (To allow Tommy to spell MM).

I think we've moved on another 10/15% from that game and with the added Bonus of Pat/Deacon/Joel back plus maybe Cross & Hock instead of Tuson & Prescott from that game and Finch improving game on game for me were a much tougher proposition all round.

I will agree your better then that game, Finch is like your Mona's someones who's taken time to show it coming form OZ but with ball in hand can be different class.

As I said on maybe this thread or another watch out for Hodgson and Myler not just the main two of Briers/Mona's as they have been adding more in attack as the season has progessed, Hodgsons link up is unreal at times and Myler seems to have grown up its like he's actually got the confidence to try things, I think Briers being out in a weird way has helped him.

As you say both look good in attack, but, when you have been put under pressure both have looked 'dodgy' in defence, Myler particularly goes hiding.

He really doesn't you know.

Week in week out Myler goes in hard and tackles well often back to back tackles.

He appears to me to do this when your winning and dominating other teams, but, when you are on the back foot you don't even notice he's on the field (admittedly I've only seen your televised games).

slightly OT but i cannot find any ticket updates on our website, and as i cannot fina a link on the wolves website i'm assuming i already may know the answer here, but is saturdays' game sold out for away fans now?

Only a few 100 left I reckon

Cant see anything else to be honest unless Madge decides to start Hock. Farrell's unlucky to miss out again but we've got to go with 4 props and 2 hookers.

Just what I was trying to get accross. Not making any excuses for the losses. Wire were superb.

I just think many Wigan fans are assuming we will not match wire because we havn't in the last two games. We are clearly looking much better for this one than the last two. Finch is the key, we lacked direction and a decent kicking game in the league game earlier in the season, we also lacked any attacking cutting edge. Its not like our defence was poor, conceding 4 tries against a quality side is nothing to be horrified by and I think if we keep warrington in the middle of the field then we will concede less than 20, same goes for them.

We have to keep Monaghan quiet. Keep him quiet and we'll win the game. The way we slow the PTB down will help us do that but we have to make sure that our line moves up as a unit because if they start to punch holes in us then that is when he can and will punish us.

I'm pretty confident that we will do just that and that is why I'm confident we'll win.