Wigan Warriors 19-Man Squad
John Bateman, Joe Burgess, Tony Clubb, Tom Davies, Liam Farrell, Anthony Gelling, Oliver Gildart, Willie Isa, Thomas Leuluai, Liam Marshall, Michael Mcilorum, Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Sean O’Loughlin, Sam Powell, Ryan Sutton, Taulima Tautai, Sam Tomkins, Jack Wells, George Williams.

I'd go:

FB 1 Sam Tomkins
RW 36 Tom Davies
RC 3 Anthony Gelling
LC 4 Oliver Gildart
LW 35 Liam Marshall
SO 6 George Williams
SH 7 Thomas Leuluai
P 19 Ryan Sutton
H 9 Michael Mcilorum
P 20 Willie Isa
SR 14 John Bateman
SR 12 Liam Farrell
LF 13 Sean O’Loughlin

S 15 Tony Clubb
S 16 Sam Powell
S 17 Taulima Tautai
S 28 Jack Wells

Burgess looks like he needs a week off, and I wasn't impressed with his workrate last week. Ideally we need to win this one comfortably to improve our points difference so Marshall is a good player to have out there given his strike rate.

Nu'uasala just doesn't offer enough for me. The worst of a bad bunch of forwards last week. Play him in the reserves against Saints and hopefully he remembers what it's like to knock people over. Wells has done well when called upon.

Same as last week at Leeds apart from Powell in place of Ganson. WEP article which says Manfredi is playing in the reserves also hints at Wells and Marshall playing

"Saturday’s match at St Helens, likely to also feature Liam Marshall and Jack Wells"

Guaranteed it will be an unchanged team except Powell for Ganson.

Everything Hudds will have expected and trained to play against.

Be interesting to see the crowd given holidays and the general malaise in the fan base. Could be our lowest regular season crowd for some time.

Everything feels stale at the moment and it reminds me of the last year of Noble.

Ah yes, the last year under Noble when we were reigning champions and cup finalists. Yawn.

This is the exact same cack you miserable gets were coming out with last year. Although to be fair you have a better chance of being able to say "I told you so" come the end of the season. Throw enough sh*t, broken clocks etc.

Apologies for having a different opinion to you. Good for you if you're happy with the way the team is playing at the moment? Many people are not and we're on course to having our worse league campaign in decades.

I'm not a "told you so" person, don't see the point so you can happily put that hissy fit back in your pocket.

Well said PCW. We've been in the last 4 grand finals and won 2. We all know we'd have beat Saints but for the Flower incident and we lost v Leeds because of a dodgy knock on that wasn't given. We could easily have been on the back of straight grand final wins.

We are world champions and in the Challenge Cup final.

Of course our current position isn't where any of us would want to be but if people can't see genuine reasons for the vast majority of our losses then it's time to stop watching RL.

Our club is a positive, innovative one who is striving for worldwide recognition and respect. We are light years ahead of any of our rivals off the field and our chairman is doing nothing but good for the club.

If we have a full pre season and more luck with injuries next year I'd put my mortgage on us making another GF. Some people can't see the woods for the trees at times, it's not ideal at the minute but certainly not worth the doom and gloom of some folk on here.

Whatever the team I hope 5 or 6 of them are told in no uncertain terms that they're playing for a cup final place. I'd play a full team tomorrow then rest Sam Tomkins, Gildart, Williams, McIlorum, Clubb, Sutton, Bateman, Farrell and Lockers next week. We need all of those lads in the final without question. There are some others such as Davies, Powell and Isa who's work rates and attitudes should give them a final spot but they're not quite as indispensable as those listed above (Davies is working himself in to that bracket but I'd just keep playing him so he doesn't lose momentum).

There are certainly some posters on here that fall in to that bracket but Wigan/Leeds Andy isn't one. I've never sensed he's one to jump on a bandwagon or to make damning statements when not needed.

The teams attitude is dreadful at the minute. Last season we played poor rugby but the attitude was always good for me. Since Maguire took over in 2010 there has been the odd game here and there were you've thought 'they could have put a bit more effort in there' but there's never been huge chunks of any season where effort and attitude has been a problem. That's changed for me this season and for about 3 months now 'some' players haven't looked interested in league fixtures.

Watching us against Salford and Warrington in the cup compared to Huddersfield away, Wire home, Leeds away and so on in the league has been chalk and cheese.

Sounds good (although I very much doubt it'd happen(,but that's 9 senior players! Who do we replace them with?

I can see the rationale but I disagree. Until top 4 is mathematically impossible then we need to go for it. We also need to find some form before the CC final. We'll not find form to beat Hull with all the strike sat watching.

Unfortunately, I think you're right.

There are some mitigating factors, for sure, like the injury crisis. And it can't be denied that, technically, this could still turn out to be be a season of achievement ... though that increasingly feels like a longer and longer shot. Only maths can now get us to Old Trafford, while I'm not completely convinced that winning at Wembley would make 2017 a great year given that the Challenge Cup is a lesser thing these days. Hull will start as clear and deserved favourites, anyway, but even if we do win, I stil feel that would only partially mask a number of problems.

I'm not one of these idiots on the other site who consistently call for everyone's head, but performance-wise, I honestly feel that we've passed a point of no return this season. Certain players have stolen a living at Wigan in 2017. FPN appears to be another Aussie on holiday; Joel has been the predictable shadow of his former self since returning from Union; Isa, while a willing lad, will only ever be that; Tommy should have retired last year; Sam, though he's improved these last few weeks, is hardly performing like a marquee player, etc. More worrying for me, though, as others have said, is the overall lack of motivation ... I've lost count of the number of times this season when average opponents have walked through half-hearted Wigan line-defence. And ultimately, that must be down to the coaching staff. I also worry that the turgid football we're playing, and the uninspired attacking moves, are killing the crowd's enthusiasm.

I'd be very surprised if some changes weren't currently under consideration, though I admit that if we do win the Cup, that makes it hard for the Chairman to make the ultimate decision.

Need to stick to our strongest team every week and try and find some form for the cup, because at the moment we are looking at a good shoeing at Wembley. So what does the coach do at the most important time of the season with huge games coming, up send the lads to a wrestling pit hoping that this fixes things. I can understand that last week defensively (mainly individuals) we were poor, but do we need to be doing this sort of thing at this part of the season with the injuries we have had. Makes you wonder what they actually put in to the attack side off things, if anything. www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-l ... -1-8693871

Need to stick to our strongest team every week and try and find some form for the cup, because at the moment we are looking at a good shoeing at Wembley. So what does the coach do at the most important time of the season with huge games coming, up send the lads to a wrestling pit hoping that this fixes things. I can understand that last week defensively (mainly individuals) we were poor, but do we need to be doing this sort of thing at this part of the season with the injuries we have had. Makes you wonder what they actually put in to the attack side off things, if anything. www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-l ... -1-8693871

"They ripped into each other"

Getting pretty sick & tired of hearing the fact we were champions last year, world champions this year and cup finalists as an excuse for the absolute rubbish displays in the last few months...honestly, give it a rest. The team is not playing well, the injuries and subsequent results have knocked confidence and the coaching staff don't look like they have a remedy. It is quite obvious things need changing.

Super League rugby evolves, fast. Coaches are far better equipped now-a-days to see what or who isn't performing and they can usually make the required changes. Shaun Wane doesn't seem to be one of those, for whatever reason, nothing ever seems to change. Same tactics, week in, week out and that can only be down to his stubbornness in outright belief that eventually it will work and we will get a result. He hasn't quite grasped that the other "top" teams have evolved and can see our plays and predictability a mile off!

I've yet to see anything like a positive post from you mate?
You say we haven't evolved and we're predictable but yet we've been consistent enough to make the last 4 grand finals and won 2 of them.
Nobody would have predicted Castleford's rise this season, nor Salford and Wakefield for that matter. Likewise nobody would have predicted Warrington missing the top 8 or Wigan being at the bottom end of it. It's sport and things like that happen. We don't have a given right to win and we have to accept the emergence of other clubs.

None of us are happy with our current position but there are mitigating factors that we have to accept. The injury crisis was unprecedented. We lost our scrum half with a broken jaw, our back up scrum half (Shorrocks) was out for the season, the other back up (Powell) was covering at hooker and we had to play a 17 kid (Woods) who for all the world was never ready. That's just one example of the mitigating factors I'm talking about!

I stand by my earlier comments, with a good pre season and more luck with injuries I'd put my mortgage on us to make next year's grand final.

Spot on. We have been through a terrible injury crisis and may still win two of the top three trophies on offer, whilst avoiding the middle 8s. Change nothing and I still think we will be there or thereabouts next year, injuries permitting.

Your right, you are yet to see a single positive post from me. I only came across the forum by chance and joined in July, correct me if I am wrong but other than scraping into a CC Final has anything positive happened? Until it does. your unlikely to see a positive post from me



All the other clubs, bar maybe Castleford have had injuries too, everyone else has coped. Warrington have issues, I will admit, but things are improving...aside the other clubs, which doesn't interest me, my point is that we never change our game plan, we never have a plan b and we are predictable to the point where the majority of teams can deal with us a lot easier than in the past 2-3 years. When Maguire came, he evolved us, turned us into something special...Wane took over and made a few tweeks to an already good side and kept us going...since then, the other teams have improved significantly and in my opinion, overtaken us tactically and have far superior players on their rosters for a lot less money!

I must also add, no where have I ever stated we deserve to win by just turning up. I love the competitive league, what I don't love is a predictable Wigan that lack flair and the intelligence to change things when we up against it.

Leeds have made several changes and key additions from last year, when they have a fully fit squad, as proven by last week, will 9 out of 10 times beat us.

Castleford lost arguably the best winger in RL, replaced him for less money, made some additions and again, with a fully fit squad to choose from will 10 out of 10 times beat us.

You telling me that by adding Forsyth, Escare, Navarette and Leuluai were quality additions? Was keeping GW as a marquee a good idea, has he repaid any of commitment by us that with improved performances? As champions last year we stood still. We didn't evolve like the rest of the top teams and we are now paying the price for that.

We entirely deserve to be where we are. I too stand by my comments, things need to change.

Apart from Parcell who do you think that Leeds have signed that has significantly improved their squad?

Would you be happy to have Eden before Manfredi, Burgess, Davies and Marshall?

I thought Escare looked a very good signing prior to his injury.

Seriously??? It baffles me that he is about the same age as Liam Sutcliffe, Jordan Lilley, Dec Patton and Danny Richardson. They are all working towards trying to nail down starting shirts in the next few years. George has the top try assists in the league. He has played about 100 games and will be in the running for an England shirt at the end of the year, yet he still has a decade's worth of rugby ahead of him. IMO he is the single most valuable player in the Super League and we did incredibly well to ward off NRL interest.

Hear hear!

I'm really not convinced that we need wholesale changes. A new addition to the squad is always welcome for a new season but some of the comments on here seem way OTT.
We started this season looking fast and slick. Tommy was guiding us around the park and Williams was running riot and tearing teams apart. The injuries kicked in and understandably our standards on the field dropped but the lads who came in deserve great credit for their effort and commitment. Ideally they'd be drip fed into the first team but were thrown in all at once with very little experience around them. We can't lose sight of that and they'll all be better for it.
Forsyth didn't get enough credit for me. Defending in the centre is the hardest place to defend and he did it with aplomb. He showed some good touches too and he now gives us decent, reliable cover in the position.
Marshall, Davies and Wells have all proved themselves to be SL quality and top level cover for injuries. I really hope they all kick on from here.
We just need a bit of luck and a few wins to build the confidence back up and we'll be fine.