Crowther head knock against hull. Bowden moon boot after Leeds. Not sure with Kelepi

The RFL have downgraded disciplinary issues this year to incorporate more fines and less bans, so knowing our luck both Wigan players will cop for a 50p fine

With us conceding five tries against Johnstone and Davies, we will need to be massively improved in attitude and enthusiasm otherwise same again with Field and French to nullify. If we don’t have team changes, it would be very odd.

Sort the edges out and work on kicks to finish sets and we will see improvement.

Murphy Langi Hall Taufua for this one maybe

Wigan losing their opener will have them hurting and wanting to make amends.
Mind you, we should be feeling exactly the same.

Personally, I wouldn't change all that much but, if we have Hood available, he has to play and we have to find a way of coping with Field and French.
I think that our pack can at least match theirs and we need to get at Smith, he didn't seem to enjoy all of the attention that he was getting at KR and I hope that he keeps his boots on the wrong feet.

After watching the match again on Trinity TV I wouldn't be surprised to see Mash change both wingers after their defensive displays on Friday,and bring in Tafua and Kersh for Pies.We need to move up in the tackle and stop the opposition getting on the front foot.It's just basic stuff but we just looked so sluggish.

I'd probably keep a lot of the team the same. If anything I would switch Hall and Lyne. Possibly Tanginoa in as well.

I think to get a win on Friday would be one of the best results in the last few years.

Wigan were abysmal on Saturday particularly in defence leading for Peet to repeatedly call them soft and questioning their attitude in his post game interviews.

First home game for them with the criticism of the fans ringing in their ears they will have been told what is expected of them in a very tough week of training for them.

If they play like they did against KR there is no reason we cannot beat Wigan but I just think they will be very fired up, particularly their middles.

Hopefully we carry the game to them early and try and disrupt them. Our middles are due a big game.

King struggles positionally in defence and getting Langi going at him could be the best bet to cause some damage.

They are there to be gotten at, KR really went at them on Saturday.

I hope I'm wrong but this is exactly the sort of game we get rolled over, Wigan coming of a poor showing and I'd imagine be a good crowd there for their season opener.

whilst they did make a few mistakes can’t help but think changing the wingers will have very little impact. Problems we had were largely down to our forwards not creating any sort of platform for the backs to play on.

Actually thought Lineham played ok apart from the non interception leading to Johnson’s try

If we were dropping anyone it would be our two import forwards I can only hope they are going to get better.

Other one I didn’t quite understand is butler , came on made two decent hit ups and at least one decent tackle then after about 5 minutes he was back on the sidelines

Apart from being critical of butler I ve never been that impressed by Lino ball in hand , thought he had one of his best games in a trinity shirt.

If fit then kelepi has to play, perhaps start hall, other than that suspect mash will give the guys another run out

Much of Wigan's "threat" seemed to come form kicks and Pearce-Paul is a giant, 6ft 7" or something close.
That is really dangerous on kicks towards the opponents try line

Wigan will 100% be putting kick towards the left edge with KPP and King playing on their right.

.
Yep, definitely an occasion where we will need to have had our Weetabix

Ref is A.Moore, at least it's not Wigan fan Jack Smith

Think we should, and will, stick with Murphy and Lineham. Kershaw or Taufua defending high balls against Havard and KPP is frightening.

For a start off get the ball kicked deep, why we are kicking to the oppositions 40 is beyond me , talk about giving a team a leg up , get it down near their touch line every time . Kick chases need to be faster , which will dramatically cut down their options ,Mourgue has far too much time on his hands ,as well as general line speed .Les Cats did everything that but faster and it told in the end . Simple fixes … I hope so , get up to speed with the oppositions and your in the battle , sit back and it’s a long shift with only one outcome . Wigan are a shadow of their former selves, but are still a well drilled and organised team and will take some breaking down , but get up in their faces and you give yourself a chance . Oh and more ooomph from the forwards and give our back line a chance .

We started playing panic rugby when we were only 2 points behind.
Back in the game at 20 -18 and then we have Lyne pushed into touch, followed by all of the wheels coming off.
So many sets breaking down on play 1 and play 2.
We wont beat anyone with that level of play, certainly not Catalan and definitely not Wigan.

They certainly will, and changing our wingers will make zero difference (unless they are going to grow a foot in the next few days)
The wings were not at fault against Catalans, the mistake was to allow a good in play kicker the time to place his kicks with no pressure, anywhere he liked. it was like a training session.

I'm sure we've heard that criticism before.

Some lessons we just don't learn.

It's not like they don't know it so no basic lesson to learn
It's how you do that when under pressure after defending all over the field which is far more complex.
The transition in defense from being tight in the middle to covering out wide is a problem for us.
It's a bit of the SR. A bit of the half back in the line out wide, partly the winger to catch it and a lot of the full back to manage it all.
This is where Max, even when he has a great game, has a flaw compared to someone like Shaul imho.

Squad news for Friday https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 6434979907

Squad news for Friday https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 6434979907

No Lyne.
Tanginoa and Hood back.

And Wigan at full strength

Looking at the squad. I guess the main question mark has to be who plays on the wing. TJ is always a tough opponent so I’m split on whether to give Lineham another shot or go with Kershaw/Taufua. I’m kind of leaning to Kershaw as he has good yard gains when bringing the ball out which could be a big advantage in this game.

Jowitt
Murphy
Langi
Hall
Kershaw
Gaskell
Lino
Whitbread
Hood
Battye
Ashurst
Pitts (move to LF at 30min)
Proctor

Kay
Tanginoa (move to 12 at 30 min)
Atoni (Prefer him as impact prop)
Eseh Time for this lads SL debut

I find it hard not to include Crowther. I’d consider starting with Proctor at second row but the issue is I don’t think Crowther or Proctor can do a full game which would really affect interchanges.

At least they'll have no excuses