Especially not the crazy high-pressure scenario that Friday's game will be.

Absolute madness to throw young guys in off the cliff into this of all games IMO. Maybe subsequent games, but not this one.

So to change something you have to move someone out of position (where they don't normally train or play) and if that's one of the halves you are trying to create a partnership in a very short space of time. People keep suggesting Menzies/Jeffries for the halves but they've been team mates for only a few months and never played as a pair.
It's difficult to see how you can replace any of the key positions, especially given the current squad and injuries, so you end up looking at /winger combinations.

Having said that and given we started the season with only Deacon and Jeffries you'd hope there was plan for covering them in case of injuries.

Gleeson, Dallas, Aspinwall, Wild, Carney, Brown, Moran, Seuseu, Newton, Sculthorpe, Tickle, Allen, Beswick. Subs Godwin, Hargreaves, Guisett, Hansen.

Wigan's team for the 75-0 defeat by St Helens in 2005. Dont think that defeat did much for the development of the younger players.

not saying drop them all.... but why not give one or two a go off the bench and actually give them some game time. No point been 18th or 19th man in he squad, I am sure they know what match day is all about - give them a go if the senior players are not performing.

Reminding me of that derby result gives me an awful feeling about Friday!

well lets just hope Macca has put a rocket up them and come up with some quality tactics!

Oh dear.

The most obvious way to take some pressure off deacs and jeffries, and also help out newton who's clearly struggling to keep going the full 80 each week in godwins absence, would be the following:-

jeffries-so,deacon-hb,newton-hk starting

when newton comes off deacon-hk,jeffries-hb,menzies-so.

would also address some of defensive frailties which seem to occur later in game when deacon and newton tire by putting menzies into the halves in later stages.

alternative is to promote academy hooker to spell newton, but not sure if he's ready yet and whether chucking him into a high pressure game like friday is too much to ask.

Anybody would think a game at home against Leeds is way to much to ask a teenage Super League player to make his debut the way some people are carrying on. Whether we win lose or draw a bit of exposure will not ruin a young mans career. It's time we stood up and stop being so soft and use the junior talent that we have when our established men are quite clearly not performing to the standards that are required from them.

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I remember watching that game, it was an absolute beauty.

odd that of all the kids picked seven are now playing for other teams?

Probably not ruin anyone's career but making wholesale changes isn't going to help either the team or the individuals. You'd hope to introduce young players alongside experienced pro's who can give them guidance. Then it becomes a learning experience for them win lose or draw. Introducing someone into a half back position already puts a lot of pressure on them (other players looking to them for plays) and doing it in a high profile game just increases that.
Nobody wants to see a young player make a mess of his debut and anyone who isn't affected by that would be truly remarkable and should already be in the team anyway.

I knew there was a reason somewhere.

Remember Deacon already had played quite a few SL games with Oldham so wasn't exactly untried. We just decided to put him in the academy when we signed him

Not to go on about this but i feel he should probably have stayed in the academy.

I'm not saying make wholealse changes, what I'm saying is make 1 or 2 changes and drop players who are clearly not playing well. 1 or 2 players on Friday would have at least 13 established pro's around them to give them guidance, perhaps more depending on what you'd class as an experienced player. I'm not saying throw the whole academy team on and send them to the slaughter, but give somebody a chance, freshen things up and show complacent 1st teamers that their positions are under threat. What's to say a debutant would make a mess anyway? He might be a shining light in a winning team or a losing team, if we dont try them then we will never know. The opposition shouldn't determine when a player makes his debut, that's a daft statement in my books.

it's more a case of the 13 or so established pros who can't seem to get their own act together as a team.

So then make a few changes. It might work. What is the point in playing the same team, every week that clearly is not working?

The point I was trying to make was about putting inexperienced half backs (or any other play making position for that matter) into a generally poorly performing team. As we've seen confidence can make a big difference to performance and I'd rather see players brought in to games where the team has a better chance of competing and not put straight under pressure.
There might be a few who can be dropped straight in and play without nerves but they are probably the exception and would likely have been selected before now.

Of course you could be right and they'd revel in being given a chance.

I was reading something else and and I would like to apply in responce to your post what one Australian rugby league fan says in regards to playing young players, it's kind of along similar lines to what I am saying and I strongly agree with what they are saying.

He or she i'm not sure which said this.

And as an extra to that I would just like to add a few things. Every half back is inexperienced at some point in his career and many have started in teams under pressure, he's only going to get experience by being played. It doesn't matter who the game is against, play the lad if he's got talent. Look at the kid Mitchell Pearce, dropped into first grade at 17 in a struggling Sydney Roosters side in 2007, a year later he's New South Wales half back. First team exposure is good for young players, not keeping them wrapped upin cotton wool in reserve grades. A more recent example, look at that kid Sam Tomkins, playing in a strugglin Wigan side, he's high on confidence and playing well, Richard Myler, playing for Salford, there all kids being exposed to super league and its doing their games the world of good.

Spot on. Though I would argue that being picked to sit on the subs bench next to banana but not being played while your starting player hobbles around the pitch must do far more for self confidence.

Fair enough but I'd say fans over here do have a different attitude and make judgements on players far quicker. See the number writing Worrency off when he's not played half a dozen games for us.

But the big difference with Worrincy and a player making his first team debut is Worrincy is a player that's been in Super League for almost for years as opposed to never playing first team at all. A lot of people realised he had been given a chance previously and not done anything much at all. That's why some people including myself were and are still writing him off.

i realize there is a difference but the comparison I'm trying to make is I've only seen Worrincy play a few games and I suspect a lot of people making a judgement have seen the same. If you've seen more of him then you're probably making an informed judgement but there does seem to be a tendency to write players off very quickly.

Mick Worrincy was superb tonight, I'd like to see lots more of that from him. About the youngsters. Jason Crookes will be absolutley buzzing from that tonight, he was awesome on defence and pretty well with the ball. Thought he looked after Ablett very well. I'd like to see him kept there personally for the game Vs Wakefield, even if Nero is back from injury. Lets keep the lad buzzing and on a roll and we'll see his confidence go sky high.