Field is out for 6 weeks apparently. Do we have anyone returning other than Hastings? Presume French will sit out a week? Assuming so and we can't or won't recall Hankinson then I'd go:

FB 3 Hardaker
RW 22 Bibby
RC 11 Isa
LC 13 Bateman
LW 28 Halsall
SO 20 Smith
SH 31 Hastings
P 8 Singleton
H 9 Powell
P 10 Bullock
SR 15 Smithies
SR 12 Farrell
LF 14 Partington

S 7 Leuluai
S 19 Byrne
S 21 Havard
S 25 Shorrocks

Looking ugly in the backs. I'll get some flak for wanting to drop Hanley but he's making too many errors deep in our own half. Those things lose you games. Get him out of the firing line and on loan to a Championship team to get him some experience playing against men once our injuries ease up.

I backed Hanley after Saints because he was bombarded by a team with as one sided territorial advantage as you’ll see. I thought he started great last night, he got the couple of early confidence boosting catches you’d hope for but it went downhill a bit from there and unlike the Saints game a couple of the errors were poor and he looked loose in possession. It’s a tough gig for him and I’d probably keep him in but you could understand them looking at Halsall. It may well be the time to call Hankinson back but that doesn’t look likely.

I thought Hanley went well considering they went after him all night, he gopt very little support

Yeah I was buzzing at the start when he could those couple of early kicks and thought about what you had said in the week about him maybe gaining confidence from a couple of good early touches, but then after that we get the knock on and the incorrect play the ball deep in our own half, at least twice he was totally beaten in the air for what could/should have been Leigh tries too. It the errors were at the other end of the pitch I'd say leave him in but they're going to start costing us points and games, which could wreck his confidence a lot more than getting sent out on loan would. Surely we have to recall Hankinson now if we have the option.

so we drop bateman next week as he had far more mistakes and gave away stupid penalties? It wasnt an incorrect play the ball the Leigh player was in the way, I know the rule changed last year but that should have been play on or a penalty against Leigh, we cant improve his confidence by dropping him for making mistakes when other players arent for making similar if not more

Biggest way Hanley will build confidence will be when he gets some opportunities to attack properly. How many times did he get the ball last night with a bit of space?

It was an incorrect ptb, you can't step over the man anymore, you have to step back if necessary. You're right that 3 years ago it would have been a Wigan penalty. I wouldn't kill him for that but add it to the unforced knock on in our own 20 and being beaten in the air at least twice for bombed Leigh tries and it's extremely lucky he didn't cost us the game. I'm bothered about his confidence but I'm a lot more bothered about the win to be honest. Players have been taken out of the firing line, gone out on loan then ended up having good careers with us. Goulding and J.Tomkins are a couple I can think of.

I agree, apart from that dropped ball at the ptb I thought he did ok.

So bateman gave away a daft penalties and had more knock ons and missed tackles, if we more bothered about the win do we drop him?

we have seen Bateman perform brilliantly at SL and NRL level. Hanley has had two SL games with six or so critical errors between them. I don't want to turn it into a bashing session against him because he may well bounce back and I hope he does. We just can't keep giving the opposition extra sets on our line or not contesting their kicks to the corner.

Edit - gave you the benefit of the doubt with Bateman but I've seen the stats now. 5 errors for Hanley (8 between his two games), 2 for Bateman.

Bateman will have to deal better with having a target on his chest. He’s a big fish now and players will go after him. He had a poor start but by the end he looked really dangerous.

Hoping Gildart can play, think he’s week to week?

I really think that we need to bring Hank back. With Field being out for 6 weeks, there's a need for more back support + he can kick too.

Isa should never be picked a centre again either (not his fault before anyone starts). Leave the guy in the middle and let him set the tempo for the defence.

Gildart's the one I worry about, how often do groin strains turn into hernia ops, really hope I'm way off the mark with this one.
Hopefully Manfredi is close otherwise it could be a very short challenge cup run if we're drawn against anyone decent with our current backline

Agree re Isa, he’s a cracking secondrow but a liability in defence on the wider channel against more mobile centres.

In relation to the Hanley debate I thought he went ok too.

He’s probably not robust enough to play week in week out though.

We tend to use our wingers as extra forwards early in the set coming out of our half.

We have 3 wingers who generally do this well and generate good post contact meters.

Hanley seemed to lose contact every time he tried to do a similar carry. He’s not developed enough yet for that style.

I’m in the keep him on the wing for now camp but I’d also say I agree with others who think we need to bring Hankinson back from his loan spell now.

Hardaker will be fullback again next week so it will be bordering on the masochistic if we don't bring Hankinson back to fill a centre spot plus he's by a mile the best goal kicker at the club

I think the club will give French a min of two weeks before he plays (like they did with Hastings). Add onto that Field is out for 6 weeks, Gildart is out (no idea on how long) both wingers & you don't want young lads playing every week too.

Bringing him back, just loosens things up a little

Do we definitely have the option with Hankinson? I can't understand why it hasn't happened already if we do. He played last week for London so he's cup tied but we could still do with him next week even if Gildart is back.

Lam confirmed we do but said we hadn’t considered it last week. I wonder if the salary cap plays a part? If they have room but want to save it for later in the season, that may impact on it.

I feel for Hankinson really. He’s been sat twiddling his thumbs for a couple of years and now he’s not here he’d walk a place had he stayed. It still would probably be short term though.

The obvious move is to bring Hankinson back, it's not obvious to Lam though.
He's a far better goal kicker than Zac and these missed pens and conversions will cost us games if the problem isn't sorted.
The right centre position was his and last night showed why we need a big man/good tackler at right centre. I really do doubt Thornley would have scored that try had he been facing Hanks.
On ly two problems, is there an option to bring him back and even if Rads/IL did would Lam play him? Somehow I doubt it.

Hanley did fine. He was targeted by Leigh and stood up to it and took some confident catches. He was beaten to one or two but pretty much every single winger will lose at least one contest when a team puts that many kicks up to someone to contest. An error here or there is to be expected with young players. Our two starting props made bigger errors during that game. Any player can be rusty at the start of the year. For me Hanley showed that he's more than capable of being one of our wing options.

As for next week, if they do consider French to be okay to play then he's be the obvious choice to slot in at wing. If not then it's a bigger headache. Against Salford the McDonnell - Bibby combo looked weak so I'm not sure it's ideal to play McDonnell at centre. Bateman would be an obvious candidate but I thought it was telling that we looked better when Lam reverted Bateman to right second row and Farrell moved into centre. I don't think we'd have won if Lam hadn't made that change. However, I don't think using Farrell at left centre is a good option as he looked very uncomfortable defending there.

If it were up to me I'd just say give Halsall a go. Bibby and Isa in the centres.

I think the best we can hope for re. French will be the challenge cup tie, if he has to isolate (not sure if Aus is on the list) he's no chance for next week, we could really do with drawing one of the championship survivors to give him an extra week to get back into the swing of things

Probably sound like I have a vendetta but the stats are out now. Five errors from Hanley last night. I'm pretty sure that's four near our own line and one in the opposition half which sent Leigh away for a break (luckily they knocked on the pick up). Wakey have Johnstone-Tupou-Lynne-Kay available today. They will convert those opportunities into tries. If Gildart is back and we can't/won't recall Hankinson then maybe stick him and Bibby on the wings. If not then I think Halsall deserves the opportunity to show whether he's any safer.

I think you run the risk of ruining the lads confidence with that move.

I don't think he was either shocking, or brilliant last night. Some stuff to work on, but that's what you'd expect from a guy making only his 2nd SL appearance (might be wrong on that stat btw).

If the club believe that he's our 4th choice winger and also mean what they said in regards to his good progress over the last 6 months then he needs to stay in the side.

2 of them errors were from terrible passes from the MOTM