Cooper and Byrne to start, Havard, Ellis and Mago from the bench. Dare I say it but that's getting close to an ideal rotation. No drop off when Havard and Ellis come on and Mago in shirt bursts to open things up.

Havard should be in the starting line up without question IMO.

I like the Byrne/Havard starting partnership but Cooper gives us more experience to start which is why I've gone for him. I also think Havard is relentless when he comes on and against a tiring defence that's results in more yards and better field position. Swings and roundabouts though and I'd be happy with either.

I would go for Cooper/Havard personally.

I'm not 100% sure. He's been our best prop, but he's still relatively young. I'd keep him coming off the bench for now and let Cooper take the brunt of the starting work.

I really rate Byrne, but I'd also like to see Ellis start the game a couple of times and see how he goes.

Cooper, Ellis for a solid start, Byrne, Havard, Mago for some oomph off the bench, Singleton's suspension could cost him big time

I’d want yards from the start and yards from the bench. I rate Byrne highly but he’s more of an all round package, then a guy whose going to put big numbers up. He’d make my 17 but from the bench (against Saints in particular I’d have him in a role of getting after Paasi when he comes on). I’d start Cooper and probably Ellis and then you have a good blend on the bench of impact and good yardage via Byrne, Havard and Mago. I still honestly think Singleton will get in our starting 13 though when available. It might not be my choice but my choice is worthless and he’s had a pretty good year up to now and I think he’s trusted massively by the coaching staff.

I'm sure we lost that Leeds game.

I like Byrne as a starter specifically because he is an all round package and is becoming very solid with few errors/penalties etc. Would he be as effective off the bench? Worth a look I guess but I feel you're looking for impact more from a bench prop.

I think you're right regarding Singleton and, to be fair, he has been good by and large this year. That said we need to be preparing for the playoffs and possibly final and the pack most likely to be successful there should be first choice and I don't think that includes Singleton who hasn't shown up so far against Saints.

Wire academy feeder club.

Said from day one with Peet in charge we would win-
Challenge Cup
League shield
Grand final
MOS (Cust) hopefully will be Field now

Predictions coming along nicely now

I keep reading this, but I've not seen it at all? What are we basing it off? He's averaging the least amount per carry of all of our props and you can throw in a few stupid suspensions too.

He's been an absolute bust signing imo.

I don’t mind Byrne from the bench and I do think he adds impact but more from a defensive view point. I love his intent on both sides of the ball. I rate Havard really highly but I feel him and Mago from the bench are maybe a bit ‘nice’ in defence and I’d use Byrne alongside either to set a tone and keep our defence getting off the line. It’s why I mentioned specifically putting him on when Paasi comes on against us (or impact players of that type). He battered us on Good Friday as our intensity dropped.

It’s great to have so many options anyway.

A top class signing is Mike Cooper. Whatever has gone on at Warrington I don't know but Wigan RL will and they've acted quickly to bring MC in now. No doubt Lee Briers will have been influential in this.
Looking forward to seeing him play.
We've a really terrific front row now.
Can see Singleton only getting his place back due to injury or suspension.

He’s had a few games this season running above 100m, his defence is good, his errors and penalties are low. He’s been pretty good IMO. That isn’t me saying he’s make my side now because he probably wouldn’t but he’s not having a bad season by any stretch. I’d agree he’s had a couple of bans and that’s not ideal but we’ve debated the merits of one for days.

I don’t have him as a bad signing at all but I do think we can improve on him now Cooper is here and the young lads have developed a pace.

Possibly, but for me I just think that Singo was brought in to be a pack leader of sorts. A 200+ game vet coming into his peak, prop years. He's instead been outshone by two kids, who have carried him a parts of the season (Saints at Magic is the obvious one).

He's just not good enough and a couple of 100m games and a low error count doesn't cut it. He's averaging about 6.8m per carry which is a woeful number for the supposed number 1 prop, playing for a team 2nd in the league.

We're all rightly happy with Cooper and one of the main reason for that, imo, is because Singo isn't doing the job he was brought in for.

I can go with most of that apart from the 6.8m a carry being woeful. He isn’t left on for long spells that guys like Peacock and Graham were back in the day but they rarely went above a season average of 7m a carry (I’m in no way putting him in that company by the way). I sound like I’m backing him to the point of being chuffed with him and I’m not but I think he’s been pretty good.

What I will say is that his best games seem to be against the lesser sides and that’s a worry. It’s the games like the magic one that have let his season down and leaves him vulnerable. Ultimately Singleton has never been a huge metre maker and if that is why we brought him in, we got the wrong man. It’s why I still feel Peet might just have him first choice. I think they like his experience and aggression from the start of games. We’ll see how it plays out in a few weeks I suppose.

I’m happy with Singleton. People get massively bogged down with stats. When you actually watch the game he doesn’t look out of place like Clubby and Flower use to. Could he be better yes but I think he does bring the experience to the team that is needed. I’d be happy for him to see out his career here

I really don't know ow why this "see the season"thjng has crept Into sport ti.e was players got moved on sharpish non of this waiting around so good to see him come over early

It has just dawned on me while reading this we have gone from arguably the worst pack in the league getting dominated every week last season, to the point where we have so many solid potental combinations that we can't even decide which one is best!

How the bloody hell did we get here? What a time to be a wigan fan!

It’s been some turnaround from having Lam show that little trust in guys like Clark and Bullock, that we’d even see a guy like Shorrocks propping at points in games.

Good recruitment has played a part but Peet being able to kick Byrne, Havard and Smithies on a level or two has been key IMO. It’s funny how your recruitment generally is very good when you have a good coach and it’s rubbish when you have a poor one.

Great point.

Singo has been a good player for Wigan and probably isn’t on mega bucks either.

Overall he’s exceeded my expectations since he joined us.

Reading this thread just now I was thinking the exact same thing! It doesn't seem five minutes since...

Can’t wait till we play Warrington on the 5th hope we tear them a new one… again

The way this season is going it will be a disappointment not to win the Grand Final.
The feel good factor is so good at the min