Farrimond isn't in the squad, reckon it'll be Hampshire at fb and leave the rest of the backs alone unless he wants to give Eckersley another run.

Not the one I'd have gone for...

Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity for Farrimond to play with French and Douglas to get a game too..

Looking at the 18, I still think we'll see a few rotations i.e we're not going with three hookers. You'd expect Eckersley will probably feature too. Chan & Nesemba open up a few options.

Ultimately, Peet has earned the right to pick the 18 and knows the squad and how they are feeling.

Really looking forward to seeing Kruise get going for Wigan - his attitude to pre-season seems to have been fantastic and he seems motivated to be the best he's ever been this year.

Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London.

As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.

I'd agree with that NK with possibly the addition of Dupree to be rested too.

Oops, you are correct.

Serves me right for skip reading the team and just assuming

Quote ="NickyKiss"Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London. As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.'" Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031

Quote ="NickyKiss"Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London. As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.'" Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031

Quote ="Zig"Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031'" He’s also confirmed on Wigan TV that Isa is getting a rest and Nsemba is starting. Great opportunity for him to push for a spot.

Quote ="Zig"Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031'" He’s also confirmed on Wigan TV that Isa is getting a rest and Nsemba is starting. Great opportunity for him to push for a spot.

Hopefully he'll come through with flying colours, we'll need every attacking threat we've got against Saints and with all due respect to Isa he doesn't bring much of that.

Don’t totally understand why Hampshire is playing FB. For me he’s poor in the extreme at FB and if say Field was out long term I would expect French to revert to FB and we would play Hampshire at 6. I can only assume that French is effectively not much more than a rookie at 6 therefore, Peet wants to further improve the relationship between Smith and French in the halves.
I like the idea of Nsemba playing with Farrell and hopefully he will play the full 80.
We need to give Forber some decent game time. If Peet doesn’t think that he’s ready for a combative game against Salford then don’t pick him. Sheffield on paper should be the perfect game to give him 40 minutes on the pitch.

At some point Farrell has got to be rested unless when Walters is fit we play with only 2 props on the bench.

I'd have rested Farrell over Isa without a doubt. With all due respect to Isa, we'd miss Farrell far more should one pick up an injury/suspension and both of them are in the latter stages of their careers and both have played big minutes this season, so it's as simple as choosing which one is more valuable to us IMO and resting them.

Looking forward it'll be interesting to see whether Peet sticks to three props on the bench or goes with two and one second rower. Personally I'm hoping to see a Walters/Nsemba rotation soon - would give us more strike out wide and more flexibility. Isa has been a great signing for Wigan but I don't particularly like seeing him in the starting 13 these days - he offers very little attacking threat. The one upside is that he's an 80 minute player so you don't waste interchanges.

The other player I keep going back and forth on is Liam Byrne. Clearly a very solid and tough player and strong defensively but still gets dominated too much on contact for me. Its not all about making meters but you'd at least like to see him win the collision more often than he does. In an ideal world where everyone is fit I think we're probably strongest with Thompson and a fit Ethan Havard (assuming he's in form) with Dupree and either Cooper or Mago off the bench. Maybe that's harsh on Byrne but as I said I go back and forth with the guy.

Byrne hasn't got going yet with that hip niggle. He played very few minutes at Salford, missed the couple before that and was very good against Penrith I felt. I'm not disagreeing that we need to see more but he firstly needs the opportunity to show it and he'll get that over this next few weeks. We need to see the Byrne that was on fire for that spell before his injury towards the back end of last season. If he cannot reach that level again, then his position will come under threat IMO. I noticed Peet saying Havard is back training on the field with the first team now, so he probably won't be too far away and he'll take somebodies place IMO because he is one of our best 2 or 3 props.

Cooper can't be that far off coming back after Harvard can he? They said 5 - 6 weeks and this will be week 4. Both will be great returns as it allows us to rest/rotate Dupree, Mago and Hill who've probably all seen more action than expected.

He mentioned him but just said what we found out a few weeks ago and that the news was far better than feared. If he's on track, he won't be far away as well. It'll be great to rotate for sure and it will lead to some debate when it comes to a big game and who should form the prop rotation! Ellis has nailed the 13 spot, so there are 4 or 5 places left. I would probably go with what MadDogg suggests above and rotate Walters and Nsemba in the 17 (or Walters and Isa) and if you do that, it's 4 prop spots that are left. Picking 4 from Thompson, Byrne, Mago, Dupree, Cooper, Havard and Hill is an incredible luxury but it's also incredibly tough. There is also Chan to consider and at some point, Sam Eseh will be in the mix as well. One thing is for sure, to get a place, you're going to need to be at your best.

What it certainly gives us is the ability to rotate players and not have to pick strategic games to rest them. It might sound like the same thing, but it really isn't. Other teams have a small window where they can rest players (X2 games Vs London etc). We've got the ability, most game weeks, to rotate like for like and not worry about it. Harvard for Mago or Dupree or Cooper for Byrne etc.

I would prefer it if we gave Faz the week off.

To be honest I thought that he was our best prop against Penrith and his first spell was the best I have seen him play in a Wigan shirt.

Yes he was very good in that first 20 I agree.

With Byrne it’s just him finding his best more often that we need. He was probably the form prop in the league for 4-6 weeks until his injury last year, absolutely belting people and smashing the ball up and he was excellent against Penrith. That Byrne can be an England prop.

His season so far though has been almost as disrupted as Mike Coopers, so it’s hard to criticise him. It’s time for him to step up now at Saints and then Leigh. Get in to them and go hunting like that Catalans away game last year. That’s his role in this team for me and it’s a role we need as a side.

I’m a Byrne fan and agree with you that at his best he could be an English prop. If he’s not careful he could lose his place in the 17 as Hill and particularly Mago have significantly stepped up their performances. Hopefully it’s a couple of niggly injuries that have stopped him becoming more consistent over longer periods.
I always think that he steps up againt Saints and Walmsley in particular. Hopefully he’s fit and raring to go on GF and he can literally get into Walmsley’s ribs.

No messing from Peet, Hampshire for Field and Nsemba for Isa, only changes for tonight

Jesus we sound shocking

Sheffield - Wigan's kyrptonite.