Thought a new thread would be handy as things on the cup game are getting mixed in with the last Hull game and the Clubb debate.

Manfredi the only player who will be back in the 21 man squad. I’m surprised Tommy isn’t back. I thought that injury may be a bit of a bluff.

As for the team, I think I’d pick Manfredi tbh in the only change to the 17 from last week. It’s a big game and he’ll be blowing but the more natural outside backs we have the better for me and Isa will be able to move in to the pack to cover the loss (don’t laugh) of Clubb.

I’d go-

Hardaker
Manfredi Bibby Farrell French
Hastings Smith
Singleton Powell Partington
Isa Smithies Bateman

Subs
Havard Bullock Byrne Shorrocks

Looking like awful weather on Saturday, getting off our line and kicking game going to be vital, something we failed miserably at last season against Leeds.

I fear this has a loss written all over it

Hope we learn a lesson from that game. I could be wrong but I don’t think Hull have the big middle forwards like Prior, Oledzki and Seumanufagai to do that to us. They do have Sao and Satae who can be a handful but I don’t think they’ll keep us pinned totally in our end like Leeds did, even if the weather is poor. We struggled in that game with those three starting and Leeming darting out of dummy half. We had Havard and Partington starting at prop and just one prop on the bench in Bullock (who had been an injury doubt). Hull have every chance in the game but I don’t see us being dismantled like that again.

Didn't Havard get injured early in that game and didn't play again all season? That really left us short of props for the rest of the campaign.

We are going into this game with a lightweight but mobile pack and a rookie full back but the good news is both Reynolds and Mau are likely to play which will add a lot more to our attack
Pity about the weather as we also have not played well in the rain and a heavy pitch

The packs are quite similar in size which probably a positive for both teams. I hope we don’t see the negative parts of the game from last week again but it’s been set up to be one hell of a battle.

It should be a very good game.

Should be a cracking game, as there wasn't much between the two sides last week.

Agreed, It has a Salford in the semi final playoffs 2019 feeling about it.

They’ll be majorly boosted by Mau and Renoylds returning and will be extra motivated after the Clubb drama.

Lucky for us Connor is out.

I get the total opposite feeling from around that Salford tie. It’s not to say we’ll win but I think our attitude looks brilliant at the minute and I think the team are really focussed on the Challenge Cup.

If Hull beat us on Saturday they’ll be made to go to the depths of their energy reserves to earn it. I think we’ll see a similar intensity in our defence to the Grand Final.

Yeah I think we've got problems in this one. Heavy rain does not suit this team at all and you know Hull will be wanting revenge for a variety of reasons. Im sure we won't put in a performance like the Leeds one but not got a good feeling about it.

On a side note I also think Huddersfield could go really close against St Helens, if not beat them.

I was thinking the same thing myself about Huddersfield. Probably wishful thinking but it wouldn’t totally surprise me. They beat Saints away in the CC quite a few years and another repeat surprise would do for me.

Again I agree with you re ourselves against Hull. I’m really looking forward to the game but fear we may just fall short. It’s the first time in years that I’ve looked forward to a CC tie and I must admit I quite like the feeling. I’m pretty confident that both sides will put on a good show even though both teams will have some key players missing.
I think over and above a great defensive effort we will need Hastings at his very best if we are to sneak it.

It should be a cracking game, I'm really looking forward to it. Dunno whether to be pleased or not that Connor isn't playing; you never know whether he's going to be able to stay on the pitch.

I feel differently about this with Hull's injuries/suspensions. My first thought last week was that we'd probably end up losing this one. Even if you take the Clubb incident out of the equation, there was still a lot of needle when we played last time out, and so often in these situations the team who loses the first game goes on to win if they play again the week later.

With their lack of numbers in the forwards, I'd make Wigan slight favourites now, but it should still be a great game.

I think we've an excellent chance to win this one.
Connor will be a big miss for Hull FC. His replacement will be expecting our kicking game to concentrate on Jacko belting the ball as high as he can so it drops on top of their full back's head. The fb will then get tackled very hard by three or four forwards. That could take a lot of energy out of them trying to get out of their own 20-30 mtrs.

Although it has rained the ground will surely still be firm as it has been dry for weeks.
Our overall mobility and speed should see us through with hopefully a win.

I hope Hardaker has been practicing his goal kicking this week. The weather is looking pretty poor so potentially it could be a low scoring game (similar to last week maybe).

Sneyd knocks them over from the touchline with ease it seems these days. Missed a pretty easy one (for him) which ended up being the difference between the two teams.

Feeling slightly more confident than a few days ago with Ma'u and Reynolds back, although I wonder how fit they are, still have Wigan strong favourites.

Connor out is a blow, but with Connor Wynne we gain some pace and he is very strong and elusive. A bit nervous though so will be tested by your kicking game.

Hopefully a good and we are talking about the rugby this time.

Manfredi in for Clubb, only decision is do you play Manfredi and use Isa as a "middle" or give Clark a run, either way we're playing someone who hasn't had a proper game in months, not ideal for a knockout game.

I’d go

French
Manfredi
Hardaker
Farrell
Bibby
Hastings
Smith
Singleton
Powell
Partington
Smithies
Isa
Bateman

Shorrocks
Byrne
Bullock
Havard

I'd have Manfredi in instead of Clark too, so the same XIII. Having said that I'd keep Zack at FB for now, and put Bibby at centre. I know they had some joy by targeting French on the wing last time, but I'd keep going like that for a few weeks more to give it a proper chance before moving Zack to centre.

Could be a tricky one this. Bad weather, big pack who are riled up. Have Lam and the team learned lessons from last year's cup game v Leeds?

I suspect we will be as equally riled up.

I don’t think they are that big really and that’s positive for us. They’ll have Satae, Sao and Ma’u who all stand just over 6ft tall but are certainly not giants like Leeds threw at us, then they’ve got plenty of smaller forwards like Lane, Cator and Jack Brown who are under 6ft tall and very much in the mould of some of our young forwards like Smithies and Partington. I’d say we have the bigger pack overall with guys like Bullock, Singleton, Byrne and Havard. I could think of plenty of superleague packs that would be bigger than ours or Hulls.

If there’s any shred of truth in Clubbs defence/denial that is doing the rounds on social media (it’s probably fake mind) and the players believe it, then you could well be right.

It's been reported in the WEP anyway;

[urlhttps://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/revealed-what-tony-clubb-claims-he-really-said-to-andre-savelio-3227279[/url

The other thread is locked, but it only seems fair to report that TC refutes what has been said.

I'll leave it there.