Looks like we could be a few down for next week.

Wane has said Sam will still be out.
Hansen, Prescott, Gelling & Tuson also injured.
Dudson will probably pick up a ban (not sure why he did that???)

Hopefully Wane will give another debut, im hoping to see Burgess/Manfredi on the wing with Charnley at fullback, this could be a good option for us once Sam eventually leaves for bigger and better things... hes safe under the bomb, has speed & Just needs to get up to speed with the technical aspect of playing fullback and I think we could have a good find.

Charnley
Burgess/Manfredi
Goulding
Thornley
Richards
Green
Smith
Mossop
McIlorum
Flower
Hughes
Farrell
O'Loughlin

Taylor
Powell
Burke
Crosby

Wane said previously that he would replace like for like but it seems he doesn't think Lewis Tierney is ready yet (which is probably true). Burgess could be used at fullback or on the wing but I think he's still injured at the moment.
I'd like to see Manfredi get a chance after his promising performances in pre-season. I don't think Charnley will make a top fullback but he's the best option we've got at the moment.

I wouldn't be surprised though if Wane went for a backline of Charnley; Thornley, Goulding, Hughes, Richards and added Crosby or Lloyd to the pack, or he could possibly play Lloyd at left centre and keep Hughes in the pack.

Hughes to centre, Thornley to wing, Luke Adamson in?

Given that whenever Sam has been out we have lost (to Widnes, Bradford, Leeds and now Hudds), put your money on the Broncos !

P.S. How do I change my username ?

Didn't we beat Huddersfield away a couple of years back when he and Joel were suspended?

Tomkins seems to think he'll be back on twitter but we'll see. There's certainly no rush to bring him back in these early stages of basically a meaningless 27 game league campaign.

I think Hughes may miss out as I couldn't see any other reason for him ending up on the wing with Goulding centre then him being injured. I also noticed Charnley grab for his hamstring with about five mins left yesterday but he did play on.

Like I say don't risk anybody that's not 100% fit but we can see already we don't have enough depth to the squad.

Leave your name as it is and start supporting Widnes.

The team for me would be as follows assuming sam still injured:

Josh
Goulding
Hughes
Thornley
Pat
Green
Smith
Mossop
Micky Mac
Dudson / Taylor
Faz
Burke
Lockers

Lauaki
Flower / Taylor
Tuson
Powell

London have been nilled at home to Wakefield.

I think we could field a few young lads and still win comfortably.

With the weekly rounds not all that important, surely now's the time to start coming up with a decent game plan for if Sam isn't around?

As Leeds have shown, using the weekly rounds to get both the tactics and the players in the right shape for the play-offs is what matters.

It is not meaningless if you don`t make the 8 you don`t play off.

Like Widnes away last season you mean?

Wane will want to win this one or it will be Played 4 Won 1 Lost 2 Drawn 1 Points 3

I think Manfredi may play on the wing. He was down to play against South Wales yesterday but was withdrawn. It's just a shame Joe Burgess has been out for a few weeks it would have been a good game for him to play in.

We did.

Quite a few out that night, Lockers played at Stand Off IIRC.

charnleys debut?

No sense risking Sam for this if he's 50/50. We ought to be able to win this one without him, if not he's the least of our problems. I'd go:

FB 35 Tierney
RW 2 Charnley
RC 3 Goulding
LC 17 Thornley
LW 5 Richards
SO 6 Green
SH 7 Smith
P 21 Taylor
H 23 Logan
P 10 Mossop
SR 29 Burke
SR 12 Farrell
LF 13 O'Loughlin

S 8 Lauaki/20 Dudson/26 Crosby (depends on whether Lauaki's injured and whether Dudson's suspended)
S 15 Flower
S 24 Powell
S 25 Lloyd

Given a rest to McIlorum and Hughes to see what Logan and Lloyd can offer. I'd rather us throw them in now then when we're forced into it against a better side. Plus Hughes has pulled up with injury on the last couple of games so he could probably do with a week off. Does anyone know what the situation is with Prescott?

I think his Wigan debut was away at HKR the year before.

He scored a blinder of a try though, inch perfect kick from Lockers about 40 out that he caught on the dive over the line.

We need players back and quickly. The next two games are London then Cas away which are manageable. Following those two it's Catalan at home then Leeds away.
If we are bringing in lads to make their debut now then they must be prepared to see the four games through.
Lauaki will return as will Tuson and Sam perhaps. Hansen, Prescott and Gelling will be out for months rather than weeks.
For the London game I'd go with :-

Charnley,
Manfredi, Goulding, Thornley, Richards.
Green, Smith.
Dudson, McIlorum, Mossop,
Farrell, Burke,
O'Loughlin.
Bench - Taylor, Lauaki, Flower, Powell.

I'd move Josh to fb as he has experience, Tierney has two years yet in the U19s. Murphy to return for Cas.
Keep the front row as it is, they are very good in that opening 20 mins.
Give Burke a start it is the right game for that.
The bench has size and flexibility in that Flower can play prop, 2nd row and loose, Powell can fit in with 6, 7 & 9.

I'd agree with most of that but may bring Lloyd in to replace / rest Burke.

As a London fan. after watching yesterday's game you could play your U12's and still beat us we were that bad.

Never seen any SL team look so uninterested in playing rugby in my life then my team this year and its only 3 games

Don't know much about the state of your team this season but London have often proved awkward opponents for Wigan at the JJB/DW. I can see from the results we should expect to win comfortably but I'd be surprised if your side turned up without any intention of giving it a go.

Looking at some of the potential 17s being proposed the word comfortable doesn't spring to mind!

FB 2 Charnley
RW 3 Goulding
RC 4 Hughes
LC 17 Thornley
LW 5 Richards
SO 6 Green
SH 7 Smith
P 21 Dudson
H 23 Macilorum
P 10 Mossop
SR 29 Burke
SR 12 Farrell
LF 13 O'Loughlin

S Flower
S Tuson
S Powell
S E Lauaki (If Fit) Or Crosby/Taylor

Im all for squad rotation however if Sam is not in the team we can't afford to take that chance i think we played very well in defence Saturday but our attack just lacked the X-Factor, the team above would certainly bring home the 2 points.

Tuson should be back and Tomkins is 50/50 according to the WEP.

Best case would be-

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Thornley
Richards
Green
Smith
Mossop
McIlorum
Dudson
Farrell
Hughes
O'Loughlin

Subs
Flower
Taylor
Tuson
Burke/Powell

No excuses at all if we get that side on the field. If Tomkins does miss out I'd put Charnley in at FB and bring Manfredi in on the wing.

Course we did, but that fact would obviously quash the "Wigan are crap without Sam" rumour.

The fact that you could probably only put the loss of Sam down as a reason for one of those defeats doesn't seem to register either.