Injuries may still play a part in the selection of the 3/4.
SW's selection v Hull will be interesting.
He left out Gelling and Burgess last week and they may well be in on Friday. Gildart will be worth watching as I suspect he'll be in after his two games so far in the first team.
I do think SW will go - Bowen, Manfredi, Gelling, Gildart & Burgess.
Bateman 2nd row and Patrick to miss out.

I would really like Wigan to give Charnley a game at centre, I know Burgess will not be here next season but by giving Charnley a try out at centre it gives Wigan an option if a good winger becomes available.
Also I think wingers may be easier to bring in, because finding a good centre is like the proverbial needle in an haystack.

Someone has also mentioned Joe Wardle at Hudds, I have been impressed with him even though I do not think Hudds would let him go.

Totally agree about Charnley. I think he played centre as a youngster?
Bateman is not and never will be a centre and neither is Gelling.
Hopefully Gildart can claim one place in the near future and maybe Charnley can be the answer to the other centre position.
I used to love the Charnley of 4 or 5 years ago when he could score from anywhere and had the confidence to take people on. These days he seems incapable of a full length of pitch try and he feeds off kicks for try opportunities. Sad really.

Charnley played centre on loan for hkr and he made kirk yeaman look like a right charlie so i wouldnt have any hesitation with playing charnley at centre

Sarginson is going nowhere, he said in a Q&A with sky sports on Twitter a few weeks back that Wigan have taken up the option on his contract so he's staying for next year.

He may never sufficiently recover from this injury. Having to operate twice, on separate occasions, then wait for recovery, he won't be back for the start of next season. He can't even walk at the moment, and has lost a load of leg muscle over the past two months. Although Wigan have kept him on, we may be short another centre come February.

Interesting to read Wane state that Gildart is still one or two seasons off being a regular starter:

[urlhttp://m.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-warriors/gildart-set-to-tick-another-box-1-7451296[/url

If Sarge leaves (which I don't think he will btw) we would surly have to sign someone to fill the gap till Gildart is ready.

It would be very interesting to see what happens if Sarge does leave as a top draw centre like Carmont could change the whole look and feel of this side.

Spoke to Sarge a few weeks ago.

Wigan have took up his option for next year and he's happy to stay, but will move on to a new challenge in 2017.

Don't mind when players serve then contract and if they want to leave.

Going off early form think Gildart will take over in 2017

why would a top 4 team let one of it's best players and one of the best centre/2R in super league leave?

Maybe the player wants to leave? He would have a much better chance of winning something at Wigan than Hudds. I wonder if Crabtree will regret staying at Hudds as if he had signed for one of the big 4 clubs he would have some winning medals to look back on when he finished his career.

You are quite right... Fans often can't understand that players are players, and don't necessarily feel the same way about a club as they do... Crabtree would have been a wonderful addition to a strong pack, rather than being the person carrying one. Had he been in the Leeds team during his career, blimey!

Crabtree had the offers- (including Bradford in their heyday- but Crabtree chose to stay with hudds who had dropped out of the top flight) he's a hudds fan and whilst ever hudds want him he will stay. The club is in his heart.
Wardle still has two years on his contract. He is playing his best ever rugby in the second row- I can't see him moving to Wigan where they have big competition for places in that position when he can play every week at hudds.
Nice that Wigan are looking at hudds players such as mcgilvary, Wardle and Patrick, though- suggests that the comment about winning stuff may not be entirely accurate....Hughes has played very well at hudds whilst Patrick has played his most average rugby for some time at Wigan so we are doing something right.

Wakefield fans used to console themselves with the 'knowledge' that Solomona was Wakey through and through. Until he signed for someone else. Lots of things can change during a player's career, not least the coach he plays under, the chairman who pays him, his team-mates etc. However, I will concede that Crabtree seems to be very loyal to Hudds. With Wardle it remains to be seen.

Funny you should mention coaches. Crabtree was unhappy playing under tony smith- has openly said he didn't think smith managed him well- so much so that he's revealed he applied to join the police force. Rather than join another side he would have given up on professional rugby league. Smith leaving happened at the right time for Crabtree!

Wardle grew up in Halifax and played in the Bradford academy -I'm sure his heart isn't at hudds in the same way- but I can't see he'd want to leave a regular first team spot at hudds to be a squad player at Wigan.

Gildart and Bateman for the rest of the year

Difficult to argue with that, particularly if Faz is back. One dodgy performance against Hull was forgivable, but there's no way Gelling can keep his place after his showing against Saints.

Gelling makes me smile most of the time but not on Friday. That offload was unforgivable and I actually have the impression that sometimes he's taking the mick and isn't taking his game seriously enough on purpose.

I say that but if you offer me the centre options of him, Gildart and Bateman for the remaining games, I think I'd still have Gildart as the unlucky man. He's inexperienced and didn't have his best game the other night. I'm a big fan but would I want him thrown in to the heat of a semi or final over Gelling? I don't think I would tbh.

But, turning that on its head, who's more likely to do something daft; Gildart, or Gelling? Although the idea of Gelling in the second row off the bench still has legs,Ii think.

Gelling was one of the form players before his layoff, he can be equally brilliant or awful. He is a game winner, some games need a piece of individual brilliance and he is one of the backs that can produce something out of nothing.

He has to be in the current squad to provide a spark if needed either starting centre or off the bench as he is strong enough to cover back or second row. Gildart has the pace to finish moves but he is still finding his feet in the 1st team. I would go with Gelling from the start.

Gelling is now the only strike centre we've got. Sarge is out and Gildart isn't at that level yet.
An in form right side of Joel, Gells and Josh is some attacking force.

As for Gelling's daft offloads. All offloads are daft at Wigan no matter where they occur. We don't do offloads, no one does them, they are not part of any tactics or game plan and they are most certainly not expected.
Gellings offloads would be ok at Leeds, or Wire a couple of years ago, as they were offloading teams. Whenever an offload was made someone was there to take it. Not at Wigan though, no one is ever around and for some strange reason it is never ever expected.

We complain on here and elsewhere that the team has no plan B. When opposition outside backs shut down our wide plays then we've nowhere to go and not a clue how to break them down apart from a kick. Last Friday being a prime example.

Gelling needs to be told about offloading in his 10 mtr area but his close by team mates should be expecting it by now. Gelling is an habitual offloader so why has nothing been done to cater for it? Whether we are in our own 10 or the oppositions we should by now expect an offload from Gells. When he does it we may have a semi heart attack but we should not be surprised.
The coaching staff and their players need to get a grip of this. We have just signed Gelling on a four year deal. So deal with his offloads and get it sorted.

I'd give Gelling a run on Friday, a last chance to prove he's worth a go in the semis. He needs telling about the mad offloads in our danger area though and that he isn't a kicker (he's tried kicks a few times and I can't remember even one coming off). His defence wasn't really poor like it was against Hull so that's something. As mentioned by others I'd really like him in the side because he has that gamebreaking spark that we sometimes lack. I'd go with the side below:

FB 1 Bowen (frustrating as it is that he can come up with that effort under the high ball, it's too late in the season to try Rocky or Tierney there)
RW 2 Charnley
RC 3 Gelling
LC 34 Gildart
LW 5 Burgess
SO 20 Hampshire
SH 6 Williams
P 23 Mossop
H 9 McIlorum
P 10 Flower
SR 11 J.Tomkins
SR 25 Patrick
LF 14 Bateman

S 7 Smith (at hooker, worked well in 2012)
S 8 Crosby
S 12 L.Farrell
S 17 Clubb

Lockers rested not dropped obviously

I'd love to see that half back pairing but not a chance in hell of it happening.
The priority financially is a home tie in the semis and I can't see anyway that SW will be allowed to experiment so late in the season. Also I don't think it is in SWs DNA to change the total approach to our game that your proposed 6&7 could potentially bring.
Subject to injuries I expect the same squad with maybe LF in for Patrick if he is fit.
Not sure about Gelling but it was interesting to note that he was dragged off very quickly after his kamikaze offload near our line so that could be his season finished however, I personally think he could still play a role coming off the bench to play in the second row.

I can't think of one coach in the history of the game who would go with a half back partnership the whole season and then change it one game away from the semi finals to two young kids.

That would be madness. Rocky will get plenty of gametime in the halves next year and we may see that partnership going into next years playoffs but no way we should be seeing it this season.

Your point is well made.

Coaches are rightly criticised when they don't know their preferred team. Constantly chopping and changing helps no-one. Why don't we just give credit where it's due and be grateful that SW has stuck by George. Quite a few on here (including myself) wanted us to buy a half back like Saints did. We were wrong and SW was right. It's just possible that he is right on the Matty/George pairing too.

I'm quite sure that Rocky will get his chances next season. Sometimes it is tougher to break into a top team. Just like Sutcliffe has had to be patient at Leeds, Rocky will have to be a little patient here. It won't do him or us any harm.

Gelling not even in the 19 for Friday, and rightly so IMO. Faz back into the SR, Bateman and Gildart in the centres.