Gildart's the one I worry about, how often do groin strains turn into hernia ops, really hope I'm way off the mark with this one.
Hopefully Manfredi is close otherwise it could be a very short challenge cup run if we're drawn against anyone decent with our current backline

Agree re Isa, he’s a cracking secondrow but a liability in defence on the wider channel against more mobile centres.

In relation to the Hanley debate I thought he went ok too.

He’s probably not robust enough to play week in week out though.

We tend to use our wingers as extra forwards early in the set coming out of our half.

We have 3 wingers who generally do this well and generate good post contact meters.

Hanley seemed to lose contact every time he tried to do a similar carry. He’s not developed enough yet for that style.

I’m in the keep him on the wing for now camp but I’d also say I agree with others who think we need to bring Hankinson back from his loan spell now.

Hardaker will be fullback again next week so it will be bordering on the masochistic if we don't bring Hankinson back to fill a centre spot plus he's by a mile the best goal kicker at the club

I think the club will give French a min of two weeks before he plays (like they did with Hastings). Add onto that Field is out for 6 weeks, Gildart is out (no idea on how long) both wingers & you don't want young lads playing every week too.

Bringing him back, just loosens things up a little

Do we definitely have the option with Hankinson? I can't understand why it hasn't happened already if we do. He played last week for London so he's cup tied but we could still do with him next week even if Gildart is back.

Lam confirmed we do but said we hadn’t considered it last week. I wonder if the salary cap plays a part? If they have room but want to save it for later in the season, that may impact on it.

I feel for Hankinson really. He’s been sat twiddling his thumbs for a couple of years and now he’s not here he’d walk a place had he stayed. It still would probably be short term though.

The obvious move is to bring Hankinson back, it's not obvious to Lam though.
He's a far better goal kicker than Zac and these missed pens and conversions will cost us games if the problem isn't sorted.
The right centre position was his and last night showed why we need a big man/good tackler at right centre. I really do doubt Thornley would have scored that try had he been facing Hanks.
On ly two problems, is there an option to bring him back and even if Rads/IL did would Lam play him? Somehow I doubt it.

Hanley did fine. He was targeted by Leigh and stood up to it and took some confident catches. He was beaten to one or two but pretty much every single winger will lose at least one contest when a team puts that many kicks up to someone to contest. An error here or there is to be expected with young players. Our two starting props made bigger errors during that game. Any player can be rusty at the start of the year. For me Hanley showed that he's more than capable of being one of our wing options.

As for next week, if they do consider French to be okay to play then he's be the obvious choice to slot in at wing. If not then it's a bigger headache. Against Salford the McDonnell - Bibby combo looked weak so I'm not sure it's ideal to play McDonnell at centre. Bateman would be an obvious candidate but I thought it was telling that we looked better when Lam reverted Bateman to right second row and Farrell moved into centre. I don't think we'd have won if Lam hadn't made that change. However, I don't think using Farrell at left centre is a good option as he looked very uncomfortable defending there.

If it were up to me I'd just say give Halsall a go. Bibby and Isa in the centres.

I think the best we can hope for re. French will be the challenge cup tie, if he has to isolate (not sure if Aus is on the list) he's no chance for next week, we could really do with drawing one of the championship survivors to give him an extra week to get back into the swing of things

Probably sound like I have a vendetta but the stats are out now. Five errors from Hanley last night. I'm pretty sure that's four near our own line and one in the opposition half which sent Leigh away for a break (luckily they knocked on the pick up). Wakey have Johnstone-Tupou-Lynne-Kay available today. They will convert those opportunities into tries. If Gildart is back and we can't/won't recall Hankinson then maybe stick him and Bibby on the wings. If not then I think Halsall deserves the opportunity to show whether he's any safer.

I think you run the risk of ruining the lads confidence with that move.

I don't think he was either shocking, or brilliant last night. Some stuff to work on, but that's what you'd expect from a guy making only his 2nd SL appearance (might be wrong on that stat btw).

If the club believe that he's our 4th choice winger and also mean what they said in regards to his good progress over the last 6 months then he needs to stay in the side.

2 of them errors were from terrible passes from the MOTM

Wakey didn't look bad in defeat today. Two long range tries for Johnstone. I think we're in for a loss to be honest.

Won't be the end of the world but we could certainly do with drawing a championship club in the cup for the following week

Yeah I'm not backing us against any SL club other than Leigh until we get backs back.

On that showing I would not be confident against any team in this league. I do not think that any single player played particularly badly but we did not have any player who would get us the go forward that we need to trouble opponents. If simple runs from dummy half can tear us apart we will always be on the back foot.
For the life of me I cannot see why so many are slating Hanley who had a solid game with a few mistakes. He was generally good under the bomb and carried safely. We should be looking at why Leigh were constantly able to walk out of their own half and kick from just outside our danger zone.
In attack we look devoid of ideas. Are our forwards so much smaller than everyone else's or are we not using them effectively? We seem to have the attitude that we will play to find the floor, but to do that the follow up also has to be quick, otherwise we need to be able to mix it up. It is almost as though we do not have the skills and vision to think on our feet.

Dont forget there's a chance Tommy Leuluai may face a ban.

If you bring Gildart, Hankinson and Hastings back we quickly look a lot better.

Not looking forward to our pack coming up against Fifita, Arona and Co. There's no doubt our front row is the worst in SL for post contact metres - I personally thought Brad Singleton's performance was the most worrying.

Singleton was statistically very similar at the back end of last season. He is going to need to keep his aggression high in defence and keep his work rate up or else he’ll be questioned, no two ways about it. Joe Bullock needs a rocket on the back of Friday for me. He was going down so easy in collision. The guy needs to realise he can be what he wants to be. At that size and with the pace he’s got he should be smashing holes in teams. He had a good season last season but he’s got so much more to give IMO.

I think teams tend to target Joe and get stuck into him - not convinced he has that element of grit or toughness to respond and give a bit back.

He does seem a bit too nice and in terms of props it’s been something I’ve put at a lot of the ones we’ve brought through and brought in. I just wish we could find a player with the natural attributes of Bullock but the attitude of Partington. I hope we get to see Kilner pretty soon because he looks to have a bit of mongrel about him, whilst being physically quite imposing.

Interesting to see Hankinson was named in London's squad earlier in the week but he's not made the match day squad.

Has he suffered an injury, or have we called him back?

It's mainly just me being critical of Hanley to be fair. Bit of a reaction to people saying a player who made 5 errors (2 unforced whilst playing the ball in our own 20m) had a solid game. We all want him to do well but saying he was solid or carried safely just isn't accurate when he kept giving up possession and gifting Leigh try-scoring opportunities. A better team scores 4 tries off his errors IMO (2 sets on our line for the knock on at the ptb and the ptb into the man, 1 for when they beat him in the air and threw a forward pass for what would have been a try, 1 for when he threw the loose ball backwards and the Leigh player ran clear for it but knocked on the pick up). Tom Johnstone, Reece Lynne & Co won't fluff all those chances.

I think it's a little harsh to drop Hanley on his second game especially his first out of position on the wing, in a team without any first choice starters in their positions in our back line. That also effects massively the go forward gains. Off the first three hit ups, after any kick, it's normally a combination of full back, wings and centres taking us towards the 40. We was lucky to get over the 20 before any forward took the ball up. We miss Marshal from play the ball scooting early in the set he often gains ground, gets a quick play or earns a penalty, Hastings helps in that department lack of yards from half is one of Powell less impressive stats, though I find it very hard to criticise him 60 tackles. Gildart and Zak also make us plenty yards and the threat of French also creates space for others. Hanley coming into a full strength team would be a much kinder passage into SL to be judged on than the less than ideal games he's faced upto now. Having watched him from juniors I imagine he's the best option under the high ball we have out wide at the moment to drop him would do more harm than good at this stage.

Hanley was also incredibly lucky not to have conceded a penalty try for the grab on Tierney. But I think he deserves a go again.
Given the way things have started, I think I'd get short odds on at least 1 more player going down injured this week....

The lad is being asked to do a job to which he is unaccustomed. He did some things well and made some mistakes which he will learn from as he is a clever rugby player. The reality is that we should not be relying on the likes of Hanley and Field to play on the wing.