Im guessing that Holroyd and Lindop will be rested which would allow Bateman and King to return.

Max Wood did a very useful stint against Wigan but I think he will be back at Widnes this week.

Is Fitzgibbon really fit again, or a red herring ? And should Philbin get a run from the bench or will he have to wait for an easier option next week ?

I think Burgess will want to play his strongest side here and make a statement, he can always fiddle with the lineup next week.

Max Wood was a machine in post contact meters. I really like him.

As my post earlier, I don't think Philbin gets a place unless we rest 2 forwards. In truth he hasn't been good enough for where we want to be for 5 years.

Lindop plays for me. Earnt it. Be a strong message to King that he is not a shoe-in.

Yes, with the import of Yates and Bateman Philbin has slipped down the pecking order. So it depends if Burgess wants to get him back to match fitness for future problems ( injury / suspensions) or if he wants to hit HKR with his strongest side. interesting to see what he does.

Im guessing that Lindop will drop out though because King( if fit) is very strong in defence and can make good yards with the ball. Lindop of course is a lot more dangerous with ball in hand but will have a fair number of errors in him to work out through experience. I think it's fantastic that we have these two in our squad with Tai partnering up as well.

Philbin does not get into the 17 for me. Fair to say I have not been a fan of his for a long time now but I can say the same of some of the other players. The difference though under Burgess and rest of coaching team as been impressive so it’s possible that Philbin gets back to being the player he was when he first came through.

Only thing I wouldn’t do is play all 3 coming back from injury in a game this big and Bateman will have some jet lag.

Is it 8 weeks Philbs has been out for? I think it's a big gap to come in to such a big game cold, better to play off the bench vs London I think.

On Fitzgibbon / King if they are fit enough they play, they are senior players and their performances deserve that. If there is any doubt on their fitness though, give them another week, we have confidence in those ready to play ahead of them in Holroyd / Bateman and Lindop.

If King does come back in this week I'd be tempted to give Lindop another run out vs London, maybe in place of Tai.

Dufty
Thelwis
Tai
King
Ashton
Williams
Drinkwater
Vaughan
Powell
Yates
Nicholson
Fitzgibbon
Currie

Walker
Musgrove
Crowther (torn between him and Wood tbh)
Bateman

Be interesting to see how Burgess uses Bateman, will he take put him at back row or 13 or a mix of the two?

Pardon my ignorance but which side does Bateman play on.

Mainly the right I think, but he's played both sides - 13 too.

Yes, I think he has played on both sides. He definitely played left centre for England in the 2017 World Cup final.

Hopefully Lindop stays in, a la Hayes earlier in the season, form gets repaid hopefully!

They do have to be a little careful with Lindop, he looks a great prospect but they can’t be over playing him - he’s only just turned 18 and has already played way more than he expected this year. Chambers is pretty big on that.

I guess that, if the older players are definitely fit, they will be slotted in. No need to leave them out as a boot up the bottom (as someone suggested). The youngsters have been great but can be rested tomorrow. We all know & they will know that they are good enough. So for me Lindop, Holroyd, Wood & Philbin to be left out. But would be happy if anyone of them were included. Happy Days.

* Mind you Sam did say (a few weeks back) that Nicholson was busted & suggested that he was playing to help out because of injury problems.

As most seem to agree, I’d get King back in and let Lindrop sit this one out. Someone above mentioned resting Tai next week, which is a good compromise with Lindrop getting another chance lined up.

Philbin is a tough one. Was playing well before the injury, but in no particular order we have Vaughan, Currie, Harrison, Yates all ahead of him. Musgrove is at risk, can blow hot and cold, but I think he gets in before Philbin.

Assuming Fitzgibbon comes back, he’s first choice in the second row. Nicholson likely holds that other spot. Meaning Bateman gets the 4th bench spot in a first choice 17.

Leaves out Philbin, Crowther, Wood and Holroyd for rotation.

If Lindop is out as well you need one of them in.

Sorry, I had put King in. I think the backs are pretty clear cut. Dufty, Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton, Williams and Drinkwater are locked in as first choice, barring injury. Lindrop’s time will come, but I would expect to see him protected, maybe see him against London (twice) and maybe Cas and Huddersfield in the run in.

If that was reference to my comment, I never said boot up the bottom. I said it's a squad wide reinforcement that no-one is a shoe in. If you recall under previous administrations as soon as the "star" player recovered from injury they were back in the side automatically, irrespective of the form of the player they are replacing or indeed their form. It got to the stage that we would play "star" players in unnatural positions. I am glad these times are behind us.

Anyway we call have our own views, personally I don't think Lindop has been overplayed. He has played 3 games in a row. The other 3 games date back to Feb, May and June. As he scored 2 tries in his last game I would argue he deserves to keep his place.

Not much point looking back too much. New broom & much better back up players now (which did make life a bit more difficult last year). Sorry didn't realise who had brought up the shoe-in comment. Personally I would be happy with Lindop but I'd guess King will be back if totally fit.

Nice problems for the coaching team to have though. I would say Lindop deserves to keep the spot but he is also our future and long may it be. On the other hand King was doing nothing wrong before the injury so Lindop got the opportunity. Glad I’m only a sofa coach as so many of us are but it’s great debate and a great place for the club to be in just now.

In previous seasons, if we had quite a few injuries and were forced to play some youngsters, we (the fans) almost felt like we were beaten before we started, and the team might even have subconsciously felt that way too. Now, it's very different. It's great to have a healthy squad, but when we do have to rely on the youngsters out of necessity, I'm not worried any more. They are good enough.

Dufty
Thewlis
Tai
King
Ashton
Williams
Drinkwater
Vaughan
Powell
Yates
Nicholson
Holroyd
Currie

Walker
Musgrove
Crowther
Bateman (rotating with Currie)

I'd Save Fitz and Philbin for London to be honest.

It's a huge game tonight. Our remaining fixtures look better than Wigan's on paper and they were less than convincing last night. I'm expecting a great atmosphere tonight. Looks to be a good crowd with very limited in the North/East/south Stands online.

whatever happens i think KR & Wire have been the two most exciting teams to watch in the comp as nobody really knew where theyd both be at the end of the season, everyone else is just same old same old and wigan have been found out to be a 2 man team

Most thought burgess would be a flop

Many thought we was a flash in the pan

i just hope we can stop that shift play with dufty drifting in and getting ashton in space

What did sky dub it, first time we met? Contenders versus pretenders?

Baring injuries in the warm up, King, Philbin & Fitzgibbon not in the 17 tonight. Lindop & Holroyd both keep there starting places.

Bateman on the bench.

It will be interesting to hear why King and Fitzgibbon are not in the match day 17, no doubt Burgess will give us an update after the game. It makes a great statement of confidence in Holroyd and Lindop and will give a big boost to the rest of the Academy to boot.