IN: Lima, Charnley
Out: Fielden, Gleeson

Wigan Warriors 19 Man Squad

Sam Tomkins, Darrell Goulding, George Carmont, Paul Deacon, Thomas Leuluai, Michael McIlorum, Andy Coley, Harrison Hansen, Joel Tomkins, Sean O'Loughlin, Paul Prescott, Jeff Lima, Ryan Hoffman, Amos Roberts, Lee Mossop, Liam Farrell, Chris Tuson, Stefan Marsh, Josh Charnley

Tomkins
Goulding
Tomkins
Carmont
Roberts
Deacon
Leuluai
Prescott
McIlorum
Coley
Hoffman
Hansen
O'Loughlin

Bench: Lima, Mossop, Farrell, Charnley

Not make the cut: Marsh, Tuson

Agreed!

Question of who takes the 3 shirt, Marsh, Charnley or Joel.
MM seems to prefer Marsh over Charnley for the right centre spot but Joel fills in there when we get an injury during a game.

Sam,
Goulding, Joel, Carmont, Roberts,
Deacon, Leuluai,
Coley, McIlorum, Precott,
Hansen, Hoffman,
O'Loughlin.
Bench, Lima, Mossop, Farrell, Charnley.

Poss Tuson and Marsh to miss out!

I'd mix it up a bit and go:

FB 19 Roberts
RW 2 Goulding
RC 12 Joel
LC 4 Carmont
LW 25 Charnley
SO 1 Sam
SH 7 Leuluai
P 14 Prescott
H 9 McIlorum
P 10 Coley
SR 16 Hoffman
SR 22 Farrell
LF 13 O'Loughlin

S 6 Deacon
S 11 Hansen
S 15 Lima
S 21 Mossop

Roberts at full back because it's his best position IMO and Sam's defense wasn't the best at the weekend, think he'll need to get a little stronger or smarter if he's to turn into a top full back. Joel at centre has been toyed with in a few games, I think this is a good chance to get a proper look at whether it'll work. Deacon on the bench because he was poor at the weekend IMO and I don't want McIlorum doing 80 every week, better to spell him while we've got a game against fairly poor opposition.

I would expect to see Charnley or Marsh in at centre. Forget Joel at centre let him concentrate on being a second rower / loose.

He's not playing well enough to be certain in the side at second row/loose forward. Joel or Charnley would probably be the best option. Definitely not Marsh! (Unless he's been taught how to run properly).

Tomkins is not a centre for me. Id have Charnley Marsh or even Amos there first.

I think its a bit harsh to say he's not playing well enough to get in the pack when he keeps getting asked to fill in at centre. What we don't want to be doing with Joel is ruining him by not giving him a settled position to play and that should be in the pack.

Start Charnley. If he's going to be Gleeson's long-term replacement at centre he needs to play there at SL level as often as possible. Aside from that it's as you were for mine

That's true, but as long as the club don't try to change him as a player then I don't think there's any harm in giving him some games at centre. O'Loughlin used to switch between stand off and loose forward early in his career (he's doing it again during games now) and I think that helped him become a much better player. He's capable of filling in at stand off but he's still pretty much an out and out loose forward.
I think Joel is a very good back row forward who's good enough to fill in at centre if needed. He's got the right attributes already to be at least a decent stand in whenever our first choice centre is injured. It also allows Farrell and Hoffman to spend more time on the pitch and those two seem to be in great form.
I don't think playing Joel at centre would be any more harmful than playing Goulding on the wing, O'Loughlin at loose forward, Sam Tomkins at fullback, Chris Tuson at prop, Leuluai at hooker etc.

I would prefer Charnley to be given a chance, but I'd have more confidence in a Tomkins-Goulding centre/wing combo than a Charnley-Goulding one.

He might also put Goulding at right centre, Roberts to right wing and Charnley to left wing. There are plenty of options. I don't think Joel at centre should be ruled out though. Playing a few games in a different position isn't likely to have a negative effect on a player.

I agree with you. Let's give Josh Charnley some games at centre.

Sam Tomkins
Darrell Goulding
Josh Charnley
George Carmont
Amos Roberts
Paul Deacon
Thomas Leuluai
Paul Prescott
Mike McIlorum
Andy Coley
Joel Tomkins
Ryan Hoffman
Sean O'loughlin

-------------------------
Lee Mossop
Jeff Lima
Liam Farrell
Harrison Hansen

Agreed

+2

How in any way shape or form can you say Sam needs to get smarter at FB and then make a case for putting Amos there? His handling skills and short kicking game alone puts Sam streets ahead of Amos. Amos on his day, which isn’t very often, maybe a better broken field runner than Sam but Tomkins is a far more complete FB package.

Amos simply doesn’t have the rugby brain to play at FB in the style we want i.e hitting the line late and acting as a 3rd HB who creates that extra bit of space our wing men thrive on.

Amos is a speedster with a wicked step and should be left on the wing.

I think you're wrong about Roberts. He's a very intelligent rugby player, he reads the game very well as a fullback and is a very good passer, offloader and good at picking the right angles to run. At the start of last season he was playing better at fullback than Sam is now.

The problem is that the above is Roberts at his best. As it stands he's far from his best, and Sam is playing well at fullback. Tomkins definitely has plenty to work on, but his performance against Bradford showed exactly why he was put at fullback in the first place. I have doubts as to whether Roberts will ever regain form anywhere near as good as it was early last year.

1. Roberts
2. Charnley
3. Tomkins
4. Carmont
5. Goulding
6. Sam
7. TL
8. Lima
9. McIllorum
10.Coley
11.Hoffman
12.Hansen
13.Locky

14.Farrell
15.Prescott
16.Mossop
17.Marsh


Tuson out and give Deacon a rest this week.

1 - Sam
2 - Goulding (Needs a good positional game after being caught out in the WCC)
3 - Charnley
4 - Carmont
5 - Roberts
6 - Deacon
7 - Leuluai
8 - Coley
9 - McIllorum
10 - Prescott
11 - Hoffman
12 - Hansen
13 - O'Loughlin

14 - Lima
15 - Mossop
16 - Joel
17 - Farrell

Not for me.

Last season he was sensational with ball in hand and running at teams. He’d come from deep and beat players with his excellent step and turn of pace we saw that against Cas away, Wakey at home and his two excellent tries against Wire away BUT I can’t see where you’ve got that he’s a very good passer from? You only need to take a look at his pass to Goulding in the WCC to see an example of him simply being unable to hit the man when the pressure is on and defence is tight. It may seem like I’m picking out one instance there but I happened a few time last season as well. I remember him doing almost the exact same thing vs Wire away which cost us a walk in.

I

With both Marsh and Charnley in the squad, id be nervous if I was Goulding.

I agree with people saying give Charnley a shot at centre, but would you put him with Goulding? If Goulding doesn't play next to Gleeson he seems like he loses confidence in the centre and goes wandering in field leaving space on the outside. He'll be on the wing against broughton won't he, who's pretty nippy if he's given a bit of space to run into. (Although not all that great at getting round people)

I'd maybe swap Goulding and Amos about.

I think Goulding has been given a bit of a bad beat after the St. George game. Martin Gleeson wasn't 100% fit and St. George were able to expose this out on the left with their very, very fast, accurate and clinical handling, which was too quick for a half-fit Martin Gleeson, who subsequently wasn't sliding fast enough, which subsequently left Goulding exposed & fans have given him the wraps for it. Sometimes Goulding had to come in field, had he stayed on the outside it would have left a massive whole in the defence. I wouldn't want fans to forget that we won the Grand Final with this lad on the wing.

I wouldn't change a thing next week. I have every confidence in Charnley & Goulding.

And Salford are not St George..a combo of Charnley and Goulding is the way to go.

Goulding has always had that problem where he rushes in off his wing causing a massive overlap and teams click on to this and target it either by kicking behind him or a long cutout pass, this season we will see him exposed a lot more with his poor positional play. He is a steady clubman who probably is cheap to throw on the wing, he did ok last year I'd go as far as saying he over achieved, if he sorts his defence out he will be ok but I'd rather have Charnley or Marsh on that wing as they are a lot faster.

I'd give Charnley that right centre spot ahead of Joel Tomkins as he's a natural in the position and I really thought Joel struggled in alot of areas there against St George. I see Tomkins long term as a second rower that play as a centre in an emergency whereas Charnley long term looks to be a centre that could also play on the wing. We need to give guys like Charnley and marsh as much gametime as possible because they'll be first inline to take over from Carmont and Gleeson over the next 2 years.

I'd go-

S Tomkins
Goulding
Charnley
Carmont
Roberts
Deacon
Leuluai
Mossop(he's earned a start imo)
McIlorum
Prescott
Farrell
Hoffman
O'Loughlin

subs
Lima
Coley
J Tomkins
Hansen

Tuson and Marsh to miss out for me.