Its great to see Eamon back in the squad, but i feel he is no where near getting into the challenge cup final squad.

hows O'Carroll done in the U20s?

Great to see that we're rotating the squad. But I would like to see Carmont rested.

forgot about prescott - I was thinking he might be able to edge out Hock.

Hock plays like he did last week and nobody will be edging him out

Hock did play well but don't forget that was against Salford.
Still not convinced Gaz would be up to the pace of a Cup Final against a fast team like Leeds.

Salford were dire as were Wakefield when Hock scored a hattrick. Last weeks performance means nothing for Hock he has to have a stormer for me against the Bulls to be considered for the final.

Same. Play Goulding on that side.

Bradfords season is now over, they have nothing to play for. They could play really well, but after their game last week I am not expecting it. They had to be commited in defence last week and they just wern't. I feel another Tomkins hatrick coming.

Happy to see O'Carroll back in the squad and also Mossop getting a rest. My guess would be Hughes and 1 of Carmont/Marsh/Goulding to miss out (one starting at LC, the other off the bench as Goulding did last week when Madge decides to have a re-jig with spelling players)

Going off O'Carrolls latest tweet you get the feeling (if you read between the lines) that he'll be playing.

For those that don't have twitter, it says:

"Can't wait to play!"

1. Sam Tomkins
2. Josh Charnley
3. Joel Tomkins
4. Stefan Marsh
5. Pat Richards
6. Paul Deacon
7. Tommy Leuluai
8. Jeff Lima
9. Mike McIllorum
10. Paul Prescott
11. Ryan Hoffman
12. Harrison Hansen
13. Sean O'Loughlin

14. Liam Farrell
15. Gareth Hock
16. Eamon O'Carroll
17. Darrell Goulding

tomkins/marsh in centres

need to rest sam this week.

No way should we risk him the week before the final.

Team for me would be:

Richards
Charnley
Joel
Marsh
Goulding
Deacon
Tommy
Lima
Micky mac
Preccy
Hoff
H
Lockers

Hock
Hughes
O Carroll
Faz

Rest sam and carmont from that 19

agreed with that

great to see o'carroll back in the squad. Hopefully he can kick on and have an injury free career after all the bad luck he has had!

Sam
Charnley
Joel
Marsh
Pat
Deacon
Leuluai
Lima
McIlorum
Prescott
Hock
Hoffman
O'Loughlin

Farrell
O'Carroll
Goulding
Hughes

Hopefully we will kill the game away early then we can bring Sam or Richards off for Goulding, Bring Lockers off for Faz, Lima off for O'Carroll and Hoff off for Hughes. Prescott to do as many minutes as poss to prove fitness.

Can't agree more with resting Sam. One, to give him and rest and prevent injury, and two, we need a game to see how we can win a game without him. He may be missing for a big playoff game or, God forbid, a Grand Final. A lot of play goes through him. Its a ideal game to do 80 mins without him.

Sam Tomkins doesn't need a rest. The only reason you wouldn't pick him is because you're afraid he might get injured. I can understand that to a degree, but he doesn't need a rest and I would still play him. Injuries are an inevitable part of our game. You could rest him and he could pick up an injury in training. He's on a different level at the moment and I wouldn't take that momentum away from him. He plays for me.

Good to see O'carroll back. He'll not be anywhere near the CC squad as long as everyone is fit, but it's just good to see him back playing again. Gaz Hock, Liam Farrell and Paul Prescott will all be looking for a very good game to make a claim for the CC final team.

I love our squad rotation policy. It's working wonders. Finch, Mossop and Coley is good enough for me after Prescott, Deacon and Lima last week. Strongest squad possible with the players available. We've got a professional job to do on friday. Get that over with and we can focus on Wembley.

We [ishould[/i absolutely annihilate Bradford.

We need to wrap sam up in cotton wool for 10 days. Call it a rest or what ever you want but we need him for the final and i would not be risking any kind of injury to our best player this weekend

Impossible. He has to train and will have to do some contract in training regardless. I understand the sentiment, but he plays for me.

sam seems a durable lad anyway, i wouldn't be too worried about him playing and getting an injury, and he doesn't do much tackling/hit ups anyway so if he plays (which I fully expect him to) it'll be fine

I'd hate to be the person responsible for telling Sam he wasn't playing. When he got picked to go with the England team to France in 2009 Noble rested him prior to the game and put him on the bench in the U20's v (Salford?)

That game was at Orrell and Sam was a bloody nightmare. After about 10 minutes he was running up and down the touchline looking up into the stands at Shaun Wane as if to say can I go on yet?

The game was a draw at half time so Wane gave in and let Sam play. Wigan won the game by 10 points!!!!!

He is a born winner. He is a born competitor. He was born to play RL.

I have come to the conclusion that fans don't hate Sam for his arrogance, they don't hate him for his 'cheating', they don't hate him because he plays for Wigan.... they hate him simply because they don't have one... they don't have a player who has come through their own youth system and has wripped up the league in his first few years, they don't have a player who loves the badge like he does, they don't have a player who would die for the shirt. His talent is unique and it is all homegrown.

Sam Tomkins is the Wigan player I am most proud of as a fan, he has all that talent but also wears his heart on his sleeve, look at the way he responds to a mistake or a loss, look at the way he puts his body on the line.... look at the 2010 away game at wire, the expression on his face when the solomona try was not given, look at the tears when we lost the WCC, it means something to him. Look at his celebrations when he kicked that goal against Leeds, when we won the GF.

I can only really remember back to 97, only Faz and now Sam have reached this level.

Teams hate Sam because they wish they had their own Sam.

Sheer passion and raw emotion. Sam Tomkins is a champion.

Good post.

Rubbish. Sam could get injured five minutes into the final, who knows.
The minute we start treating him like a 'china doll' chances are he'll get injured.

Would make a great flag that, 'Sheer passion and raw emotion'. He certainly is a champion. I have no doubt he will be our captain after Lockers. His career will take a similar script to Edwards IMO.



Agreed. We have to accept he will get injured at some point anyway, nobody goes through a career without being out for at least a few months. He is not in a position that needs a rest as well. He will want to play so let him play. Another hatrick would also secure him as the top try scorer and probably make him a dead cert for MOS.

His form since the booing at the England game has been impossible to ignore.