As good a time as any, I guess. For good or bad, players are used to the Easter double anyway - and it's the same for both clubs. Don't these sudden Arctic weather patterns suddenly appear on a fortnightly basis..?

Sorry, but the CC draw should mean we should be re-addressing our short term goals and making sure we do everything in our power to field the strongest side possible on Easter Monday.

Warrington attract regular crowds of 11-12k. Add in that we are likely to travel well given its probably the biggest game we've had since the MPG vs Wakefield, I reckon it could easily be a 10k+ attendance.

Approximately 85% of gate receipts will be split 50:50... we could be looking at this game being worth about £50k to us.

Whilst I 100% agree with the basic tenet, I don't think they'll get anywhere close to 10K people. Cup games are notoriously badly attended across the board - I'd think maybe 6K is more realistic.

Would still be a decent windfall

Not a chance this will top 10k. It's early round of cc, it'll be somewhere in the 4-6k range.

If it's televised, is there a payment to the clubs for it? The other TV options would seem to be Leigh/London, or Oldham/HKR?

Assuming of course, we get past Hunslet...

If we get through i'd bet its closer to 10k than 6k



That said, even if it was 6k, that would mean a windfall of about £30k

They played Widnes at home in the 6th rd last season and only drew a crowd of 5971 which is really poor considering its a local derby.You would hope they would muster a few more than that if we were to visit.
All academic of course till after Easter Monday.
On Easter, good win for Oldham last night at Fax.Should be a decent affair at our place Good Friday.

I think Oldham could well be the toughest team we play in the league this season. We certainly had tough games against them last year.

Interesting stat about the cup attendance at Wire last year. Think it puts things into perspective. Should we get past Hunslet I'd expect a similar attendance for our visit, probably not much more than 6k.

I think we're overestimating our attraction to the fans of a super league club.

The 'money' tie would always have been an SL team at the lower ranked sides ground, simply as the SL side is an attraction to the fans of a lower grade team. However, we or Hunslet, got what the balls decided and there we will go. If it's us, we may well take a couple of thousand, I'd be surprised if we didn't but I wouldn't bet us not being the best supported club on the day, simply because when you have the likes of Leeds, Wigan and Saints as normal visitors then neither we, nor indeed Hunslet, are a big attraction and Wire fans will be expecting a big and unexciting, win. Season tickets won't apply (I assume), so it's how many buy tickets beforehand or walk up. It's a game SL fans may well decide doesn't match up to a day at the seaside..

If anyone is in any doubt, just pop over to the Warrington forum and observe how they couldn't give a flying toss that they might be playing us in the cup. Virtually zero interest.

Understandable as we're in L1, but i also get the feel Warrington are a bit stale at the moment and not much for their fans to get excited about, Similar to use in 08,09,10. After the glory years, we just became an average, boring team. Warrington seem to be the same, good enough to avoid the bottom 4, but seem to be off challenging the top teams.

We'll probably sell around 2k tickets due to the excitement of playing an SL team again

. So i'd expect a crowd of around 5-6k, which will probably generate around 25k+ for the club. Considering we only received 75k central funding, that will be a welcome boost to the coffers.

[size=200IF[/size we beat Hunslet

Hunslet will be a harder tie than Wolves. If we get through them then we will smash Wolves.

Mead saying Keyes out with Concussion and Grant probably out due hamstring injury.

Real shame because both in good form, but nice to have Pickersgill to come in and Rickets who scored a Hat-Trick vs Wigan Reserves. Both in good form.

Or Jake Butler-Fleming. I think he was described as a centre/wing

I’d prefer to see butler-Fleming there last time I saw rickett against cougars in trial game his defence was poor not quite ready for 1st team imo.

Shouldn't we have announced the squad for Monday by now?

In the post-match interview JK confirmed that Keyes wouldn't play Monday as he'd failed a head test during the game on Friday.

It's been announced. Andrade, Halafihi, Ricketts, Kirk and Oakes all included. There are 6 props in the 19!

Omitted

Hallas
Gran
JBF
Smith
Keyes

Not got a great feeling about this game I think Hunslet could well have us here.

We're still putting out a decent enough side. But as I've said before, I don't see the cup as something the club should be putting out full squads for.

I don't think that the tie against Wire will be that big a draw in terms of the number of people attending or being that much of a money spinner for the club.
Plus, no matter what team we put out we're most likely going to get a spanking (which is something else that people will be aware of and will limit the number of people willing to pay for that privilege) and that sort of thing could seriously knock our season off course.

Seems strange JBF isn't playing in either game this Easter break, he warmed up Friday night so doesn't seem injured

Am I right in thinking that you can only play for one team in the Challenge Cup? Perhaps that's why he's omitted from the squad this weekend. Toronto may want to use him in their squad if they advance further than us.

Good to see Oakes, Kirk and Pickersgill return to the squad. I've read that Halafihi has been superb in the reserve games so I'm looking forward to seeing how he gets on against Hunslet.

That's correct, which makes it more confusing that he didn't play against Oldham. That way the squad could still be rotated without him being cup-tied.

There have been suggestions, not least in 3 Bulls in a bar, that Jake may be here for longer than the scheduled month, if so, I guess there's not need to rush him to 'get our money's worth', if you get my drift..