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.

Because those players are normally squad players, key players will be rested during the season.

At this point in the season I don't think that's a valid issue, however the risk of injury or a player getting a ban in the league game has to be taken into account I would say 2 players maybe 3 max could be rested to ensure availability for the saints game

Yeah, I don't think we can afford to take the Saints path as we aren't the settled entity they are. We are still a work in progress and too much disruption could be just as counter productive as over playing players.

In the scheme of things I don't think Friday's result will have a massive bearing one way or the other on our chances of silverware whereas the semi final clearly does. Getting the balance right is a job for the coaching staff to ponder on but, for my own part, I'd accept resting players for this one if they feel it's necessary.

Was the Wire game on Sky? From the brief highlights on TSLS, they seemed to be going quite well without Williams and Ratchford,

Not sure how settled we are to be honest - we have a similar situation in needing to find an answer to Dodd's injury.

But the majority of your team, and all of your spine, have been in your system and/or playing together for some time now. Dodd's loss is not something that would be made better or worse by resting or not resting players. Our spine is Field (1st season proper), Cust (1st season and only arrived late), Smith (2nd season but not 1st choice half) and O'Neil (2nd season and with only 2 first team games under his belt).

I doubt even someone with the biggest Saints bias in the world would liken that to a spine of Welsby, Lomax, A.N. other and Roby!

Completely agree there is more to work out at Wigan for sure! Just that we have our own conundrum to solve this/next week too.

They would be bonkers to go with Roby at 7 in the longer term. Hopoate was a good fullback for Tonga, move him there and play Welsby at 7.

I was suggesting A.N. Other as half and Roby at hooker. They'll probably do as you suggest as Welsby has played alongside Lomax before, hasn't he?

Thats the natural solution with minimal changes however Hopate can't seem to string two games together since he signed and also this is Welsby's first season as a starting 1 so moving him hinders his development and we lose the attack he gives us coming into the line and his trademark cut out pass.

However I agree with you that if Hopoate can stay fit then your suggestion is the most sensible one.

I see what you're saying Stu but Welsby's utility role last year didn't seem to hinder him.

I think Woolf himself suggested in an interview that Hopoate will go to fullback. I don’t think it matters where Welsby plays tbh. He just seems like another Jake Connor but with more pace, in that he’s freakishly talented and really comfortable anywhere. He’s also not a massive tool, so that helps.

You don't half come out with some garbage at times.

Just like you, but not as bad.

Did we, or did we not rest a load of lads Vs Saints, with an eye on the Leeds cup game? We got bumm£d by Saints and lost to Leeds anyway. Having a rest, isn't some magic bullet to suddenly making everything all sunshine and rainbows.

This rest stuff is absolute BS, or at least at this stage of the year it is. It's the latest buzz/hipster topic everyone loves to buy into. Woolf must be laughing at his ability to set the narrative (he's almost Fergie like) and I'm sure part of it is also undoubtedly politics to get the Easter Monday fixture cancelled. We're 12 games into the season FFS and more than half the squad haven't played every game.