Walters is still a wee bit underdone for me, looks great going forward but his D needs work - mostly due to upper body strength. Won’t let anyone down with some bench appearances for sure but Martin, Mellor, Prior, Smith, Donaldson, maybe Thompson and A Sutcliffe all ahead realistically right now.

He will be pushing for a permanent bench spot next year I’d imagine. He took his try brilliantly against Wire.

Again if you mean first grade 17 not sure who O’Connor replaces right now. Like Walters, won’t let anyone down when his time comes though.

Good that we’re getting competition for places in lots of positions now, will be a few senior players looking over their shoulders.

O'Connor replaces Dwyer in the 17 for me. A tackling 9 in the middle of the park would be just what this teams needs. We have to get these lads involved now. We can keep coming up with excuses to stop it happening but it needs to happen.

They are lacking experience thats all. They have shown they can make a good fist of it. Get them involved more regularly, game here game there. They arent going to let anyone down.

Walters is going to look underdone he's only played twice in virtually 12 months. Sutcliffe will be at centre this season but for mine if Mellor or Martin are injured he should be ahead of the rest for a starting spot. Donaldson is best used off the bench. Prior is better used as a starting 13 and then moved to prop when Smith comes on. The more Walters plays with better players the better he'll get.

Yeah agree about Walters, but I've noticed he has a tendency to flap a bit in D even coming through the academy. I think it's just height, long levers and a relative lack of upper body strength combined. He gets stuck in but I've seen him miss a few tackles if he has a weakness in his game currently. It will come as he develops. Going forward he is already a handful at SL level.

Taking from the comments from Myler in YEP today that he has, as expected, been given FB and Walker drops out.

Cant agree with that one at all. Infact I think he has looked better defensively in his two shots than expected. He looks ready made for part of the first team, and would without doubt be getting that more often at say Wigan and Saints currently. So why ok for them to do it?

On the game the other night he looked really good, but Broadbent was the main one to really really impress.

With regards Connor, hope it works for the lad, he certainly has the attitude, but where the world would he fit? He is certainly not an hooker, and I strongly believe in both games, we would have had a shot had we had a proper hooker in place. He doesn't at the moment look like he could handle physically another forward position, so totally unsure where? only a changce and time will determine if he can handle it, but he certainly shouldn't be ahead of Walters in any first team plans, unless of course they see him as a bench utilitly who will be the second hooker rester.

Looking at the team Peter Smith has picked the only change i would make is Smith for Cuthberston.

I agree Gotcha Walters should have been used before now even if it was just 20 mins off the bench.I hope as i posted earlier he is first in line if there is an injury to our starting second rows.

I don't think anyone has said it is just about 'Bulking up'.

Would you not expect the club to bulk him up considering he plays a high impact position?

21 man squad announced. For me its the Semi line up,

Myler
Handley
L.Sutcliffe
Hurrell
T.Briscoe
Gale
Lui
Mik
Leeming
Ava
Mellor
Martin
Prior

Dwyer
Donno
Smith
Holroyd

Holroyd played semi and Hull so just gets the nod over Cuthbo whos last 2 games were Cats and Wire.

Walker, L.Briscoe and A.Sutcliffe miss out.

Fair enough. Seen many a good player ruined by this Philosophy though....

Not sure theres much bulking left in muizz.

Don't all players bulk up?

Thinks you would ruin him if you did.

The 17 is pretty obvious for this one apart from a bench spot that will be occupied by either Cuthbertson and Holroyd. For me it's a bit of a tough one because I think Holroyd deserves to be in 17 for his efforts and he did get nod for semi final win over Wigan but with it being Cuthbo's last year with us it would be a nice touch for him to leave with another challenge cup winners medal for his commitment and service to club since 2015. if we were to get the win Saturday but I think Agar will give Holroyd a bench spot and full deserved he'll be in our 17 most weeks for rest of this season and next.

Myler
T.Briscoe
Hurrell
L.Sutcliffe
Handley
Lui
Gale
Seumanufagai
Leeming
Oldezki
Mellor
Martin
Prior

Subs
Dwyer
Smith
Donaldson
Holroyd/ Cuthbo

Walters defence wasnt the best at Warrington but i think that was more down to understandable fatigue. He needs more game time with better players around him. Offensively he hasnt shown a fraction of what he can do yet and hes still looked good.

O'Connor isnt a hooker but weve not had one for 10 years and at least he would help tighten the middle of the park up defensively. Bench spot to cover 9 and back row would be my role for him.

Both have done well and deserve more chances.

Sarginson out now after positive test!
This is getting really unfair on Salford.......

What 1 player from their first choice 17?!

Replaced by Evalds, I reckon is an upgrade

Going to be strange Watkins playing against us in this showpiece game. Great player for us over a long period.

I hope and I think our pack will get over them, and get our halves a platform.

Hurrell is due a big game.

Myler pretty much confirms in a YP interview that walker will miss out.

Ormanroyd the other Salford player testing positive.
Sarginson will be a big miss for Salford as he`s been playing pretty well for them this year.
Evalds coming in is a plus.
We`ve had players miss out on finals due to injury be you just have to get on with it.

I’m expecting this to be close, Salford no easy beats and keep coming. Could go either way, but think we maybe just have a few too many class players who will make the difference. But it would be no too hard to lose to them.
But think we will edge it 29-22

Cmon boys. Bring it home.

I hope Salford win because they haven't won a major trophy for a long time, but if you guys win I will be delighted for Rob Burrow. So it's a win/win situation for me. Really looking forward to this game, despite the stadium being empty. (Leigh fan)