so to Friday. huge game this. I think hull at home 5 days after Wembley is a gimmee. 2 points Friday will not only put us well on our way to 2nd but will seriously damage Wigan hopes.
big game for both coach and players this one. big response needed and I can see a very tight, tense game in prospect

I don't want to see Briscoe playing. But I don't think Handley is the answer either - so what's the solution?

If Sutcliffe is fit

Golding
Watkins
Sutcliffe
Keinhorst
Hall
Moon
McGuire
Singleton
Parcell
Cuthbertson
Ablett
Ward
JJB

Lilley
Garbutt
Mullally
Ferres (yes he struggled but let's try and get game time into him and see what he's like.....although might get a bit spicy given the Gildart incident last time he played Wigan)

Ferres has to play to try get some weight off!

You are proposing you take your best player and play him out of position, only one three quarter is actually playing in his natural position?

Sutcliffe to wing then?

Id go with
Walker
Golding
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Mags
Lilley
Cuthbertson
Parcell
Singleton
Ward
Sutty
Jjb

Mullally
Garbutt
Keinhorst
Baldwinson.

Ferres is no where near fit & id drop Ablett.

No you play Briscoe but you work on providing him with more protection until his confidence returns

Move Moon back into the centres and play Lilley to give the attack some structure.

Hull easily nullified Moon with a structured defence - whatever faults Wigan have its not their defensive structure

Sounds good to me. But I think McDermott is doing all he can to keep Moon in the halves.

Absolutely agree with this line up.

Keinhorst is a centre and Sutcliffe whilst once earmarked for HB is looking more and more like centre could be his best position. Moving a centre to wing isn't a big deal.

Whatever people think of McDermott at the end of the day he is going to be in charge for this game and to the end of the season at least. We know the majority of the time the centres don't get good ball and that we like our back 3 to give us plenty of yards to help out the forwards. We've lost quite a bit of that since losing Hardaker for Golding. A back three including Walker at FB and Golding at wing won't be able to make the metres that we need to help the forwards, it's too lightweight, Watkins wouldn't be, he's played well there before and scored a decent amount of tries whilst Golding struggled in the past on the wing.

Keeping Watkins at centre because you want our centres to get good ball when in reality it's highly unlikely isn't a must. If the kick chase isn't spot on by the opposition he's got the most potential to take advantage of it out of the other wing options mentioned.

Briscoe needs to be taken out of the firing line. After being hauled off against Cas but coming back with a couple of tries to beat Wakey away several weeks ago I was hopeful that would kickstart him but it's just not happening.

need to drop Briscoe - he needs to earn his place like everyone else

I agree with this. Yes Watkins is the best centre, but considering all other option I feel this would be the best balance to the backs.

Moon and McGuire won't get split up this year, not at this stage. It's worked for us. McGuire and Lilly would be playing similar roles.

I must have missed the half back combination working on Saturday.

Did you miss all other games this season where it's worked for us? Or have you isolated one game where our pack were truely out played.

Anyway my point is that I don't think McDermott will split them up this year, at this stage. He'll go with what has worked best for us through out the year. Not split it up because of the last game and experiment with new partnerships

if we have nobody in the academy who's worth giving a chance, then we have to ask serious questions about our academy system one of the winders or must be worth a shout.

This

Keinhorst is a second row forward who can play centre - he would not be most supporters preferred option - his limitations are there for all to see.

The games isn't just about attacking - playing on the wing is a specialist defending position as we saw on Saturday - sadly. Playing a centre on the wing is asking for trouble. How often does Watkins have to jump for a high ball? he will be targeted by Wigan as they will not want to kick it to Hall. Playing Watkins and Moon in the centres gives at least some structure defensively and some attacking options and properly managed might provide Briscoe with some support - something sadly lacking on Saturday. It also maintains at least some of your go forward.

That was the first game that mattered this season and it didn't work - its easy when there is little at stake.

Keinhorst is clearly a centre, he came through as one and has played the majority of his games there, he can fill in at 2nd row if needed but doesn't really have the size to play there consistently. Saying he's being played out of position is silly.

Of course the defensive side of playing wing is important and again that's why I'd go for Watkins. He's played a decent amount of games there and will have a very good understanding of the defensive side of it having been a part of the right side defence for several years now. Do you think he doesn't know what BJB or Briscoe's roles entailed? Like I said considering he's played there before and he would probably have to fill in there mid game if the winger got injured he will know the role very well. It'll be part of his training to know it in case of mid game injuries.

I have no worries about him catching, can't be any worst than Briscoe ATM.

Keinhorst offers good defence and would going for Lilley and Moon on that left edge be better than Keinhorst and Moon in defence?

Briscoe has been struggling for too long now, he needs taking out of the team for a while and hope that helps him.

Walker/Sutcliffe
Golding Watkins Moon Hall
Mcguire Lilley
Garbutt Parcell Singleton
Ablett Ward
JJB

Cuthbertson Mullally Baldwinson Keinhorst

I highly doubt it'll be anything if the sort though.

More likely:

Golding; Briscoe Watkins Keinhorst Hall; McGuire Moon; Garbutt Parcell Singleton; Ablett Ward; JJB. Cuthbertson Mullally Lilley Ferres/Sutcliffe.

If Briscoe is not taken from the firing line and starts this week, it's cruel imo. The lad needs removing for his own sake, Wigan and every other team will rain kicks on him for the rest of the season now and he looks shot.

Briscoe needs to deal with it. The best thing for him is to go again. He needs to get into Watkins, Ward and McGuire and tell them to protect him under the high ball. He was on a hiding to nothing against Talanoa and Tuimavave. It wouldn't surprise me if Wane stuck Gelling on the left. It could be a long night if he drops the first one.

Whoever gets picked will have their hands full with joe Burgess. He is excellent on end of Williams kicks either in behind on ground or in the air and miles quicker than any Leeds back.

I really don't think it is in this case. This isn't a player that's had a bad run for 5/6 games, he's not looked at the races all year long. Being dropped for Cas away and subbed at Magic weekend suggests McDermott is aware of this but given our problems filling the left centre position and Golding missing several games through injury and Handley not looking an any better choice then think that's why he's kept picking him.

Now having Keinhorst and Golding back and Sutcliffe possible then it provide more chances to take Briscoe out of the firing line.

One scenario is that if you continue to play him he might come good in time, but another scenario is that he continues to struggle and makes error after error and costs us a playoff spot or a home playoff spot or the playoff game itself and then he could never recover from that.

If he does get picked this week though I do hope the crowd get right behind him, even sing his name when the team comes out for the warmup to show we support him and not get on his case too badly because that's not going to help him.