If as expected Deacon is out on Friday, we need to shift Sam back to stand off and need a new fullback. It would make sense to bring in a new fullback rather than make even more positional changes such as Pat to FB, new winger etc.

Given he was the best player in the league before his injury it makes sense to bring Roberts back in at FB. However, he seems to have fallen out of favour since coming back. Given the number of games he's played in the first and U20 teams, match fitness shouldn't be the issue - so what is?

Apparently he still isn't looking as confident as he should in the 20's.

to be fair, he's only had a couple of months in a wigan shirt where's he's looked a top player, the rest of the time he's been very average indeed.

Not sure. He still seems to be having problems with his leg, and is afraid to really test it 100%. Whether that's because he's still feeling pain in it, or just lacking strength in it after such a long layoff I'm not sure.

He's running at maybe 80% at the moment, judging from recent games; whether an 80% Roberts is better than our other options is for the coaching & medical staff to decide, I guess.

Given that Deacs is out, we have to move Sam to #6, IMO, which means the question is who to play at fullback. What we really need to do is clone Pat.

Saw him play against Hudds U20s last week at Orrell. Doesn't look like the player he was before his injury. Seemed to be going through the motions playing at Full Back. Whether this is down to confidence, e.g. when running flat out (his knee was still lightly strapped btw and in broken play didn't look as quick), motivation, or getting back to match fitness, only Amos can tell us.

Have to say we brought him back too early from his injury and hhis confidence of running/stretching flat out, to me, is not at 100%.

Hope he can recapture a degree of his form pre-injury. Could make the difference with our play-off push.

Very true.

But in those few games he was blistering and without a doubt the form SL player.

With a knee injury it is all about confidence and that is bound to be a factor.

I would prefer to have him back when he is fully fit.

People are sweating a little because we lost on Sunday. A player re-shuffle is not required IMO. It was discipline that lost us the game, nothing else.

13 times

But then who fills the other 3 sub spots?

We need to replace Deacon.

For me, it has to be Sam in the halves and Amos in at FB.

Is Phelps fit?

Bringing in Phelps or Roberts at FB and moving Sam to stand off looks the obvious solution.

I'd say so, yeah, though Phelp's defence always worries me. He has been playing well (and kicking well, especially) in the reserves, though in the halves, not at fullback.

If I were a betting man I'd say we'll probably move Pat to FB with Sam reverting back to 6 with either Marsh or Charnley filling the wing spot vacated by Richards. That's the safest solution to go with in my eyes.

I'd go with that - bringing Charnley in rather than Marsh.

HKR is a home game. He's much better playing away.

+1

We need to improve our kicking game drastically, so Sam back in the halves will add to that.

what's the crack with Pryce? out of favour again?

Forget Roberts. He's looking a pale shadow of his former self. Now Cameron Phelps I would put back in at Full Back. Been playing well in the Under 20s, although he's been playing six for them. Wouldn't put Pat at full back. His tries dry up when we do that.

/Agree

In my opinion with Deacon out our best option is to add to our kicking options with our best kicker missing. Moving Sam into the halves is one solution, but our kicking game won't improve because Sam has been just as shocking as Leuluai and O'Loughlin in recent games.

Moving Richards to fullback also means we'll be missing someone with a good passing game at fullback. Pat's biggest problem at fullback is that when the ball reaches him it generally stops and he just drives the ball in meaning the wingers don't get the service they do with the likes of Roberts, Phelps or Sam at fullback. He improved a lot with this during this season but it still took him a few games to get going and he never really had the same effect as our other fullbacks.

Unless we bring in someone who has a decent kicking game, which it seems Phelps does have, then moving Sam into the halves isn't going to improve our kicking game at all and we will still have the same problems as before. I think Phelps is the better option going into this game given his form and what he offers to the team.

Roberts could be an option at fullback, which should at least allow Richards to play in his best position and not disrupt the team much but he's not exactly been great since his return from injury. If anything he's been a little disappointing, especially last week in the under 20's.

There's also Charnley, who could be brought in on the wing, but I'm not sure what that choice will offer us, since it means taking Richards from his strongest position and doesn't help our kicking game. There is the chance that Charnley could be keen to impress against his old loan club and so if he plays well then it could make a difference.

The one option which I hope is avoided completely is playing O'Loughlin at stand off. It didn't work against Leeds and I doubt it will work against Hull KR. There's just nothing threatening about an O'Loughlin - Leuluai halfback pairing.

Good assessment and post

I think you've hit the nail on the head there.

With Lockers and Tommy at 6 + 7, and Riddell off the pitch we'd seriously lack direction.

Agreed, for quite a few sets in that situation, we had players just stood round scratching their 'arris not knowing what to do, and started playing 1 up rugby.

Phelps
Richards
Carmont
Gleeson
Goulding
Sam
Tommy
Fielden
Piggy
Prescott
Hansen
Joel
Lockers

Coley
Feka
Faz
Mcilorum/Deacs

We need impact from the bench and bringing on Coley and Feka will provide that.

Also seeing that we've now lost our get out of jail card Piggy needs to be kept on the pitch for as long as poss. He's the difference maker in our side.