In the general swing of things I'd probably agree but, as things are, he's not going to be weighed down with over the top expectations. I'm sure he's got his own personal goals but there's no-one in the stands, nor I guess in the dug-out, going to criticise whatever happens - he may as well just enjoy it.

We had no chance anyway so why not give the young ones a run out? I would not risk anyone who is not 100% either.
What is wrong with Foster? Still I'll? He has been ill a long time.

Brook played for 19s today so unless anyone fails fitness tests I doubt he would play Monday. Did ferguson pick up an injury, don't recall hearing anything about one. Looks more likely that it will be Gale & Addy in the halves on Monday. Not looking forward to it one bit.

bookies for me 2moro..wigan by 70, should get pretty good odds!!!

Yes agreed. Wigan by 70.

wigan wont win by more than 36..... they will leave gas in the tank for the next game, we haven't played for the full 80 apart from against stains and wire.

Looks like 7 of the first choice 17 are out injured or resting.
Bowen
Charnely
Thornley
Green
Flower
Crosby
Pettybourne

I think you have a chance tomorrow. Wane admitted we have been building and working towards the St Helens game for 3 weeks. I think we could be a bit flat on Monday. If you start well and build a bit of confidence it could be a close game.

Even if Wigan are flat, they won't be anywhere near as flat as we were on Thursday. It's not the lack of quality that's got the fans down and dreading an absolute tonking, it's the complete lack of fire and passion the team has at the moment.

How about on Monday?

I was saying earlier today, we've pinched this kid at the price we got him. The injuries he had in the past couple of years and your situation knocked the price right down which is a real shame for you guys.

The lad had been rested quite a bit so far but has played all the big games and he just oozes class. He's incredibly strong for the size of him and pretty quick. He also looks a natural leader to me which is a surprise when you consider that he doesn't seem the sharpest knife in the draw.

He's got a huge future in the game.

He reminds me a lot of a young Jamie Peacock. Peacock made a couple of mistakes early in his career but was surrounded by some fantastic leaders at Odsal and at Headingley. In my opinion he's made the transition from new kid on the block to natural leader almost seamlessly. I'm confident that Bateman can do the same.

Bateman has already captained the England academy side on a tour of Australia and I seem to remember him saying that he wanted to captain Bradford one day. He's surrounded by 'natural leaders' at Wigan with the likes of Wane, Deacon, O'Loughlin and Radlinski working with him on a daily basis. If he works his way into the England setup I'm sure that will only benefit his game more and more.

He's a been a fantastic acquisition for the Warriors and he is sorely missed at Odsal.

Regarding the squad for tomorrow, does anyone know why Ferguson is missing? There's a list of injured players given in reports on both the Bulls and T&A sites but he's not included.

Whatever the result is, I would rather see 17 players give heart and soul for 80 mins.

If that squad is made up of 'regulars' and academy lads so be it, but just go out and run your blood to water for the cause - that's all as fans we can ask for at this stage I think.

All the anger, frustration that is currently around the topics will I predict will be massively reduced.

No one ever died from hard work and genuine hard graft and funnily enough opposition teams find it really hard to play against 13 absolute never say die grafters ... Funny that isn't it!

Let's start with the most basic of all human instincts passion and desire to do something (eg mindset) and physical means (hard graft) as one feeds the other.

Pretty sure he left the field with a 'knock' on Thursday. If I were Franny, there's no way I'd risk anyone who wasn't 100% in a game where we have no realistic prospects of taking any points.

... which begs the question as to why Gaskell is in the 19

Well, it could be that the injuries have been further assessed since Thursday's initial verdict, which I would certainly hope is the case, or it could be that he has to put out 19 names and he knows full well he won't play..got to say I wouldn't risk anyone not fully fit.

Gaskell went from limping to actually putting weight on his ankle whilst on the sidelines. Hopefully it isn't anything too serious but I wouldn't risk him if there is a slight doubt.

Hope the youngsters get a chance to play a fair chunk of minutes tomorrow. Give it their best and enjoy. That's all we can ask for.

Bulls are 21/1 to win tomorrow!

Just looked on Oddschecker

Bulls are 33-1 to win
Wigan are 1/100

Wow! Those are amazing odds for a two horse race

Sums up the situation perfectly unfortunately. Sad to think that just nine years after being World Champions in club RL, we would cause the biggest upset in recent years if we pull off a result today.

Fully expecting a Burnden Park-style massacre today.

As do I.

It will be interesting to see what the club will have to say about it if so.

Injuries

TBF losing by 80-0 wouldn't hurt as much today looking at the squad as what Thursda did. One of the darkest day for a Bulls fan.

Well, the squads for today have been announced, and it really looks like Wigan are putting out the B team, certainly in the backs.

I'm not sure a full on massacre is on the cards, but I still don't see us turning Wigan over on their patch.