I don't think it was optimistic at all NK. The emergence of Partington and Byrne as genuine starters and the addition of a still clearly destructive Burgess coupled with Clark and Bullock (with a full year and pre season behind him) who have both shown themselves to have good minutes and good go forward has transformed our front row options. That's before we get to Havard, Kilner and Wells. This time last year we were pretty much looking at Clubb and Flower with some raw inexperience to back them up. That is some difference! Notice I haven't mentioned Flower for this year and who was our first choice prop last year. This time around he has to prove himself in order to get in front of at least 5 others!

Also it's a short turnaround so Lam will probably shuffle the pack around again on Friday at Salford.

We didn't win a single "big game" last season because we were bullied in the pack. I was hoping Burgess and Clark would fix that but I'm not convinced yet. As good as Hastings is/has been like all halves he will be useless behind an ineffective pack.

I agree that we are improving on the prop front but are overly reliant at the moment on the young guys ie under 20/21 to do the big minutes and start the game
We have some cracking young lads coming through and if we can keep them together in 2 or 3 years we could have a serious pack
I hope Havard and Flower go well today and Flower as starting prop sounds far better than Clubb

I’ve seen nothing from Clark to suggest he will become a regular first teamed and he is obviously behind the kids in Lam’s eyes
This year for me depends on how much of impact GB has on the pack if we are competitive in the big games

I think the right call would be to say it has the potential to be one of our strongest areas. I say that because I’m truth I’m looking all round the side at the minute and we look strong in most positions, especially when we’re at full strength. Good quality starting players and good quality back up in pretty much every area.

I think it’s a bit OT to say we might get turned over, I fully expect a victory today against a weak KR side. I think the pack we are likely to put out should dominate theirs and from that Hastings, French, Marshall and Manfredi should have a good day.

Out of the props we have at our disposal at the moment I reckon Clubb and Flower will be shipped out to make way for Wells and Kilner.

Wells is a 2nd row and clubb just signed a new 2 year deal so dont think that is going to happen.

Benny has a deal until the end of this year so he may be a bit vunerable

My mistake on Wells but his build is more of a front rower than a back rower. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him propping in years to come.

I know about Clubb but I’d hope we can release him somehow

Starting 13;

French
Marshall
Bibby
Zak
Manfredi
Hastings
Tommy
Bryne
Powell
Oli
Farrell
Isa
Smithies

G Burgess
Flower
Havard
Smith

I probably wouldn’t go with that starting front row but other than that I think it’s a decent side. Well capable of putting a decent score in against KR.

Rotating the props to keep them all fresh, I like it. Looking forward to seeing Havard.

Perhaps Bullock and Clark back in on Friday against Salford, since the team have a short turn around. Then best possible pack vs Catalans

Doesn’t make sense to me and the “rotating props” excuse. It just doesn’t wash. If we were truly rotating Bryne, Oli and possibly Havard would be rested given they’ve played every game (except Havard). Bullock and Clarke would be in, after all they’ve played twice.

I’ve nothing against Oli, Bryne or Havard playing at all but let’s call this what it is; a dropping of Bullock, Clarke and Clubb (the latter can stay dropped too).

Well we made hard work of that. Hats off to KR though they played well and were the better team.

HKR had a good go, I never thought they would win it. Marshall and Bibby were poor today, Burgess would have been chased out of the town by a pitchfork waving mob if he had made the errors Marshall made today.

Will Marshall get dropped?

Are you kidding? We were miles off our best but never looked like losing?

I agree. We were better with Hankinson in the side last week. I’m not at all convinced by Bibby and he really needs to up his game.
Marshy has been superb but had a shocker today. There’s a god should for Hank and Budgie on the flank if today is anything to go by.

Marshall went for glory when he made that break had Farrell on the inside as well as Hastings triad to go round and got found out.

I wouldn't go as far to say they were the better team but they had a real good crack at us. Looking at it objectively though their three tries all came from Wigan mistakes (2 x loose pass full lengthers and the kick to the corner dropped ball from Marshall).

The ruck is a worry for me, too many yards made with Wigan players running back facing their own line and getting caught out (taught in schools at 7 year old to run facing the opposition). Offloads remain a big issue, discipline and our field kicking from Tommy.

Other than that I'm not going to be TOO critical, we got the win and we never needed to really get out of 2nd gear again.

One last thing I will mention is the 3rd man running in at the legs problem we had a number of years ago, seemed to be creeping back into our game which isn't needed
(Flower on report so may lose him for a match, would have to have a look at it again).

Wins a win though.

Won’t be watching that one again! Fair play to HKR with there mountain of injuries ( and more in this game)

Havard the main highlight for me, need a massive spell and was very very good. Should keep his place.

Bibby struggled with SKD, I’d give Hank another go next week.

Smith to get a start.

Flower to get a ban.

Was waiting for this type of comment. There’s a difference for me and that’s Marshall having money in the bank. His form has been excellent for weeks and also for weeks at the back end of last season. In comparison Burgess has been off colour for a similar amount of time, after starting last season pretty well.

Burgess didn’t just have one off game, he had a number of them over a few months. If Marshall keeps today’s form up for a few weeks then we have a question but I doubt he will.

Truly awful performance, attitude seemed off from the start, apart from the result I don't see how anybody could take any positives from that.
Back to square one after the last couple of weeks improvement, not 100% sure who it was who got put on report (Flower ?) but they can expect a ban, looked awful from my angle.

Outstanding, absolutely outstanding. A spell of about 55 minutes in one go and he looked as fresh at the end as he did at the start.

You can tell why the England academy beat Australia with guys like him, Smith and Smithies I’m there.

Sounds like over confidence to me. Nothing a good dressing down wouldn’t solve. Dropping him is completely disproportionate IMO. He’s been far and out our best winger and deserves his place. If that form or show boating continues then there’s an argument for it.

Really pleased to hear Havard has a stormer. I remember watching him v the Aussies and they were absolutely terrified of him. Seems he has found his feet in SL, long may it continue.

Today for me showed where we are at
Hard to beat but not championship standard
Too slow and not enough grunt up front
Still an improvement on last year
Thought Havard was good and deserved his place

I’d make George Burgess play 80 minutes for the reserves for the next few weeks and make his lungs burn. He’s in dire need of that sort of pain if he wants to become a top line prop rather than a parody of a marquee prop

Stop protecting the guy and make him earn his corn

Thought HKR were very decent and light years ahead of Toronto. Good honest performance from those guys

Agreed. Be the semi finals again I think