when he first got injured we looked clueless, now with gidley and ratchford in the halves we look decent.

i think the whole side had to adapt massively when he got injured.

now we have figured out the plan B... when he is fit again plan A will be back again.

for me, its great that we now have both game plans... better than losing him just before the play offs and figuring it out then.

Or move Gids to FB and see if we can create plan C

I was thinking this during the game. I was nervous going into the last three games, but I'm not nervous going into the next 5 anymore.

You're the most obvious favourites since the Wigan-always-win-it days. Unless someone comes along and proves a Melbourne-esque level of cap rorting, you'll win the double this season. Bar a red card in a semi or final I don't see how anyone else is going to challenge you.

yeah, we all thought that in 2011

I'd say 2011 team was better than 2016 version but SL has fallen overall so possibly level

Nothing beats that 2011 team, that has been the greatest team in my lifetime, we had the perfect balance throughout the squad and we took the mick out of teams.

Just went to sleep when it mattered, but that is the greatest team NOT to win SL.

Still have nightmares over the Semi Final. Penalized for accidental offside I think it was and Sinfield slotted it over on the hooter. Think this was after King had a try ruled out for being short when for my money he was clearly on the line. Definitely a fantastic team that I haven't seen bettered in my years watching Wire.

I'm not so sure about the accidental bit; but, what a heartbreaker. I'll never understand why Briers didn't drop a goal when he had the chance a few minutes earlier.

Traumatised.

Well I did say it when it happened that we need to learn to win without Sandow. I would still prefer all the key men in positions of key areas. That is a natural FB Gidley 6 Ratchford and 7 Sandow.
All this Ratchford is nothing but a centre I've read over and over is proving many poster talk some tosh.

All being fit I suspect we would see them playing the numbers on their back, question then is what to do with Matty Russell, or rather what to do with Lineham?

Well, the question is, what do we do with fullback?

Initially i wasn't keen on the switching last week at widnes, that's molly coddling rusty imo, last night worked ok, but i'd probably just go with leaving penny at fullback full time.

Sorry what I meant was when all fit I think Gidley will play FB.

Russell is very one dimensional, don't get me wrong what he does well, he does very well but the more i see him the more i think we should play him similar to Carney (Salford), they have similar attributes.

Who else could do what Russell did last night when he burned up the middle? Penny could in free space; Russell just made the space by knocking players out of the way. Someone else will be injured by the time that Sandow is due back so it won't be an issue, but I'd guess if not, then Ratchford will end up on the bench.

i'd like to see Gidley at FB, Russell on a wing, Ratch at 6 and Sandow at 7

Well that would mean dropping penny or Lineham.
I would much prefer to see Russell off the bench. Fresh against a tyring defence he could be even more effective.

I don't fully agree RD, as surely it's about balance and partnerships particularly as far as HB combo's are concerned. Perhaps Gidley with Ratchford just works as did Gidley/Sandow, as they compliment each other, but would Sandow/Ratchford?

It might do and we might find out during the course of this season, but, if it doesn't then do we conclude that Ratchford isn't a SO?

If we are suggesting messing with Russell after that performance, the lad might as well pack in because he has no chance of winning over Warrington fans. All of our best sets of six contain a run from him, either in play one or later in the set.

It will be a surprise if TS does not have Gidley and Sandow at halves when both are fit. Russell will stay at FB and the wings will be Lineham and Penny when fit. That is our strongest and best brains in the right places. Centres will probably be Atkins and Evans.

I don't think getting the best from Russell is messing him about?!
Getting the best from him means getting the best for the team. The team is far more important than the feelings of Matty and that goes for any player.

well whatever we do, i think it would be daft putting gids at fb, a lot of extra running, and more likely of getting smashed, i don't think we'd get best use out of him, what we've got now(now that he seems to be able to run more) works and works well and its daft to consider putting him at the back imo

Hodgson had no problem with it FMC.

and?

Wrong! Wigan are 2 points off the top, with half their team missing - and their best half too! They've had players missing all season, or most of it. They will have ALL but one of those back for the full second half of the season, and, when they do, for me will be favourites.

just to nip in before you reply, bert was an out and out fullback, and a lot more spritely than gids is. And we were very concerned about him getting smashed a lot in his last couple of seasons, it was worrysome, just see the 2012 cc final.


More importantly than that, gids is doing a bloody fine job leading the team around the field from the halves, his role would be changed considerably at full back.

It ain't broke, so don't fix it.