As was the case earlier in the season when he lost his place in the side, I for one would like to see him given a proper run on the wing again next year when King is no longer with us (his pace gives us something extra)

That was my thinking as well. With no Morley or Woody we could struggle on the go forward, particularly on the interchanges

Looks alright, although my one concern being the bench looks incredibily weak. Apart from Solomona there's nobody who looks to cause a real impact. I'd possibly swap Mitchell for Harrison, have Mitchell starting with Harrison giving us options off the bench.

Hodgson
Monaghan
King
Atkins
Riley
Briers
Myler
Carvell
Monaghan
Cooper
Anderson
Grix
Bridge

Clarke
Blythe
Solomona
Harrison

Hodgson
Monas
Bridge
Atkins
King
Briers
Myler
Carvell
Monas
Cooper
Anderson
Grix
Harrison

Clarke
Higham
Solomona
Hill

Seriously, I would have considered Hill from the bench this week. We are light up front against a big Ull pack.
Just glad Fitzgibbon and Tickle are out.

If Jordan Turner and Richard Whiting are paired together on Centre/Wing we'll get alot of joy down that side I would imagine.

I'm guessing you mean Myler at scrum-half rather than Riley.

And yes, I'd expect Smith to look at something like this. I don't think we can expect to win this game in the middle of the field, although Hull will certainly try (as they do each game). If we can put together a very mobile back-row (as you have suggested) and make the most of the power of our outside backs (King, Atkins, Joel) then we can look to zip the ball about wide and put pressure on the likes of Turner, who I don't rate.

I'm concerned by our props, especially if it's a wet night, but I think we can pull something out with the right tactics. I'd certainly back Smith to out-think Agar.

I'd back a 5 year old to out-think Agar.
He's got a good team, they've just been useless this year up until recently.

I'm with Side Burns on this one. Bridge to the back row. Hodge at 1, King to centres and Riles on the wing. Big Dave to play front row from the bench.

yes, my mistake. I don't worry about being to lightweight, just bank on a good kick return to get us on the front foot, which has occurred all season using the 'pendulum' fullback/winger system. We generally don't rely on a bully tactic, Monaghan usually out-smarts that tactic and creates a bit of momentum in midfield. Just need a good kicking game from him and Briers and I'd be confident of a result

They have some huge players and will have a big bench although they don't seem to rate Lauaki who is Wigan bound.

Carvell, Harrison, Anderson and Cooper will need big games to lead us around.

If Solomona can have an impact like he did in the Cup we should be reet.

Not sure about Turner but Whiting is a fine player imo. Can play in various positions and never seems to have a bad game. His defence was spot on against Cas on Saturday and crunched the Cas attackers repeatedly. Hope Briers and Monas will cause him and Turner a lot more problems than Cas did though.

According to Cullen, no point in Hull turning up.

Good job TS and the boys will be thinking differently. Hull will throw everything at us, nothing to lose.

Hodgson
J.Monaghan
Blythe
Atkins
King
Briers
Myler
Carvell
M.Monaghan
Cooper
Anderson
Grix
Bridge

Clarke
Harrison
Solomona
Mitchell

like the look of that...still a bit light weight in the back division of the pack...but it gives us impact from the bench.

hodgson
joel monaghan
king
atkins
riley
briers
myler
carvell
monas
harrison
louis
grix
bridge

solomona (interchange prop)
cooper (interchange prop)
clarke (hooker/back row)
blythe (back row/centre)

They better had do, I've taken a half day.

Paul Cullen has been known to speak from time to time on Boots n All so we should take that with a pinch of salt I think

Looking at some of the premature threads on the board atm, he's not the only one that thinks this.

Approaching a match thinking you've already won is an open invitation to get turned over so let's hope the players aren't of the same mindset

Surprise, surprise that when I got around to watching Boots N All, Cullen said nothing of the sort. He noted that Hull have been consistently inconsistent this year and that their 3 big game players (Long, Gleeson, Fitzgibbon) will all not be playing. A couple of weeks ago, someone on here was moaning that Cullen has been less than fulsome in his praise of us in recent weeks. Now, he's obviously over the moon that we are top of the league, he's criticised for writing off our opponents. Needless to say, he is guilty of neither, just of being an articulate and intelligent pundit who analyses the game rather than getting overexcited over every possible controversial incident. I wonder why he gets so much flak on here....

I wasn't quoting him but he did say even with Long, Fitzgibbon and Gleeson their three key players they would struggle to stop the Warrington juggernaught but without them........ with the addition of the news that Agar leaving being announced. I'm paraphrasing (not quoting) what he said, to me that adds upto Cullen giving a predicition that Warrington are the huge favourites, If you take a little peek on the Hull board i think they were lest with the same impression.

I'd be tempted to have Riely on the bench, he covers either wing or full back which gives a bit of rotation of King and Joel so that they can go from wing to effectively second rowers as we've seen them do this season. I'm glad the Ninja's shown some good form, with the loss of Evans I was a bit worried about our options if either King or Joel got injured as Blyhte isn't a winger for my money, no gas.

I think Side Burns has got the team right, Riley on Wing outside Atkins and Bridge at 13.
Monaghan on the other wing outside Matt King.

To be honest it's only really Fitzgibbon that's the loss and a big one at that. While Gleeson was excellent in the two games he played we've played the vast majority of the season without him so doesn't really count IMO. Long has also been missing for large chunk of the season and has been missing for the our recent patch of decent form so I'm not sure how much we've really missed him.