French
Miski
Thornley
Bibby/Halsall
Marshall
Cust
Smith
Singleton
O'Neil
Ellis
Isa
McDonnell
Partington

Byrne
Mago
Havard
Shorrocks

I’d be up for resting a few & think that’s a decent shout. I don’t think Peet will go that way though.

I would rest Field, Cust, Farrell, Byrne, Bateman and Mago. Just concentrate on the cup, we won't miss these 2pts.

I find this a slightly odd approach - if you were going to rest players it would have made sense to do it vs Salford IMO.

But a conditioner (or even in condition) I ain't

With Catalans losing yesterday it gives us a bit of leeway, worst case scenario we're joint 2nd after 11 rounds, I think most of our supporters would've bitten anyone's hand off for that at the start of the season

Full strength for me. We need confidence and cohesion between the new spine.

Field
French Bateman Thornley Marshall
Cust Smith
Singleton O’Neill Ellis
Isa Farrell Smithies

Subs
Mago Byrne
Havard Shorrocks

I’d probably go Halsall at centre but I think it’ll be Bibby again but with a view to the semi final I’d feel more confident with Isa and Bateman on that right hand side, defending near Harry Smith, than I would if it’s Bibby or Halsall in the centre spot.

I agree. Let's keep the pressure on.

I'd consider resting Faz, Byrne and Bateman for this one. They've all played long minutes and I think we can win this one without them.

I think we need to take a risk and rest/rotate players so that we go into the challenge cup semi with the best chance of beating Saints.

I am not going to state here which players get rotated because the club will know who is carrying an injury, whose recovery is taking longer, whose stats in the match are lagging etc.

Happy enough to give anyone a rest who really is in need of it, but we have an 8 day turnaround between Wire and the Saints games. We'll have some players in the Semi who haven't played too much rugby yet this season either, so I'd rather give them a runout against Wire in a team which is pretty close to the same team that we'll use against Saints rather than one which is missing 6/7 first teamers.

That would be my team for the semi. Thornley looked awkward on the right hand side yesterday. It's a shame we'll be missing Leuluai, Powell and KPP.

I don't envy Peet this week, particularly in terms of selection decisions. A few bans have been handed out this week by the disciplinary and we can't afford that for the cup game, so I would like us to rest some. But on the other hand, we looked really disjointed at times in attack yesterday. Real toss-up for me with regards to this week's team.

Did we not do something similar last year (or the year before) and rest loads of lads Vs Saints, with the aim for being "fresh" for the Leeds CC game? Didn't work then, won't work this time.

If you can't work through tiredness for Wire away and Saints in the semi final, there's something wrong with you as a player imo.

It's not really a case of whether they can "work through the tiredness" though. I'm sure they did exactly that yesterday. The question is would they be at their best in doing so?

The extra motivation of a big game, normally helps. There's a real danger of putting all our eggs in the CC basket and before you know it we've got beat Vs Wire and Saints.

Risk it and then rest after the cup.

It helps for sure but no amount of motivation can overcome fatigue significantly enough to allow you to perform at your best. It may do for a short period but not over a full 80 and we'll need a full 80 of peak performance from the team to win the semi final.

The 'eggs in one basket' is a different discussion though and I certainly can't put a convincing enough argument forward to disagree. The club has prioritised the cup this year but I can't help thinking that perhaps our best chance of silverware may be in the league this year. It's a long season and, although Saints are undoubtedly favourites, it's impossible to predict how things will look come September. We only need a couple things to go our way to tip the balance whereas for this cup game we know where we are relative to Saints right now.

I'm not saying we can't win, of course. Anything can happen on the day but we'll need a full 80 performance from everyone.

How do you explain sides winning the Grand Final with players that have played 30+ games?

Depends how they have been handled. When were they rotated/rested etc. Then you have situations where the opposition have played similar games or with smaller squads etc. There is no 'one size fits all'. All I know is that Saints players will go into the semi with players rested. We may match them with tired players. I doubt it though.

Both teams equally knackered by that time of the year ?

Thinking about it the game against Hudds on the Thursday after the semi might be the one to bin, win or lose against Saints expecting them to perform off the short turnaround is a bit of a non-starter

Completely agree. The players have done it tough over the easter period but a big win away at wire on friday to go into the semi final cant be underestimated. If some of the senior players need resting, the week after the semi is the time to do it. Not the week before. We need as much momentum and confidence going into the semi final as possible in my opinion.

There's loads of examples.

Likewise, the team that used to have the week off prior to the GF struggled.

I am in the camp of going into the game against wire with a strong team, i think a big win against wire would be a massive confidence boost going into the semi.

However, looking at the stats from yesterday i would be resting byrne. The lad has had a brilliant year so far and has been the best prop overall in my opinion as well as the most improved player. He has earned a rest for this game and hopefully to come back firing vs saints as he did in his first stint good friday.

I would also swap halsall in for bibby. I have been impressed with halsall in every first team game he has played, he looks ready for the step up. Bibby however has been out of form the last few weeks and would benefit imo from being pushed from those behind in the pecking order, a kick up the backside so to speak.

Rest of the team unchanged.

I could go with a rest for Byrne and I do think we will see a couple of rests or at least players having minutes limited. I recall at Wakey in the cup game Byrne came on with over an hour gone and clearly that was planned to then start him Good Friday. We’ve seen Singleton have his rest now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe Smithies, Faz or Bateman got a break. I wouldn’t do it but I get it.

Going back to Byrne, his stats weren’t massive but his energy in defence around that hour mark onwards was pretty inspirational. He was flying off his line at points and nailed a couple of the Salford players. He’s progressing nicely. There’s work to do and loads of improvements in him but that’s all positive.

Liam and Smithies have been the most improved players for me this season and are showing they are definite keepers.

Jury out on Partington. I like that he offers something different in a ball playing forward, but when we are struggling for metres out if defence then he's something of a luxury.

With Mago we need to work on how to inject him into the game , especially against top teams. I like him alot but we need to work out how to make best use of his talents. How to get his carry when the previous play has just broken the defence and got a quick ptb, just like Saints do with Walmsley after Makinson has run the ball in.

It's those sort of combinations we should be really working on as to put our strike player in the best positions more frequently.

Full team for me unless anyone has a minor injury.