It might only be a coincidence but there is no denying that we have struggled at home in games with big crowds, and not just games against Wire and Saints, but games we'd probably be expected to win.

Our last few "big" crowds over the last 3 seasons at home don't read particularly well:

29/6/12 Bradford (Heritage game) L 22-30 19628
23/3/12 Warrington L 20-22 21267
5/2/12 Huddersfield L 16-20 16771
9/9/11 Crusaders (Heritage game) W 42-10 19104
25/6/11 Huddersfield (Big One 3?) W 46-12 19169
22/4/11 St Helens W 28-24 24057
25/3/11 Warrington L 6-24 21056
27/2/11 St George (WCC) L 15-21 24268
3/9/10 Bradford W 34-12 17058
16/7/10 Warrington (Big One 2) L 16-23 22701
20/6/10 St Helens L 24-26 20498
23/4/10 Harlequins L 26-38 18605
26/3/10 Leeds W 24-4 17883

So that's 13 home crowds over 16.5k, losing 8 and winning 5

We lose 1 game yes it was a big game and all this negative talk comes out from most of our fans

The reason we lost the semi is pretty straight forward we didn't turn up and Leeds did we missed Tommy/Smith, with locky at 6 the ball from first or second receiver wasn't good enough no zip like it is with Tommy there now Smith is in it looks 100 times better and i'm pretty happy on how he's slotted in

People need to get out their heads that we will see Tommy back this season it's not going to happen the club has not made a statement saying so but why would they pay out cash mid season for a 7? think about it even if he could run on his leg he wont be fit enough

We have got Paaaat coming back which is massive strike power that left side hasn't looked the same since he was injured and him and Carmont know what each other is doing plus the danger of the high kick in the corner he's not been the top points scorer last couple of seasons on his kicking

Wire have 1 eye on the cc final they have Saints then us yeah i know it's 2-3 weeks before the final but they wont have full attention on taking the top spot atm, it's hard for any team to do the double in this day and age come the play offs it will show like it did with us last season

I may be getting over confident, but I still think we will win this one. I don’t think scoring would be our down-fall if we don't, even though we’ve missed a shed-load of opportunities in the last few games. No if we do lose I think it would be more through our defence if that happened. Hope Lockers is back to shore up the wall. That one trick pony Foster could be the difference at the end of the day, but as I said I do think we’ll take this one, our forwards should be too strong for them.

Looks like we'll face Hull without Finch and O'Loughlin -

Phil Wilkinson ‏@PhilWilkWIG
Shaun Wane press conf: plans to give Sam Powell a debut against Hull FC. Finch struggling to be fit, O'Loughlin a doubt.

Sam Tomkins will captain the team.

Given that most league games are effectively meaningless friendlies, especially once the top 8 has been made certain I'm glad that Powell is getting a chance. No player should be risked if they are carrying knocks.

We will have to out score them with tries considrably as Foster is kicking everything for them.
Wigan 28 Hull 14

Our likely team:

T. Briscoe
T. Lineham
J. Turner
K. Yeaman
J. Foster
R. McGoldrick
A. Heremaia
A. Lynch
D. Houghton
L. Watts
W. Manu
J. Westerman
R. Whiting

Aspinwall
O'Meley
Pitts
Green

www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... igan-debut No finch, Goulding or Flower and possibly no Lockers

www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... igan-debut No finch, Goulding or Flower and possibly no Lockers

and James Child as referee...............

www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 393&type=1 Looking pretty light now. Finch is key. Powell will need to have a good game. To have Goulding, Pat, Finch, Tommy, Prescott, Lockers, Fielden, Dudson and Flower out is quite alot. Most teams couldn't handle that but I am confident we can.

www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 393&type=1 Looking pretty light now. Finch is key. Powell will need to have a good game. To have Goulding, Pat, Finch, Tommy, Prescott, Lockers, Fielden, Dudson and Flower out is quite alot. Most teams couldn't handle that but I am confident we can.

Still think it will be a comfy win.

We have plenty out also with Sharp, Martin, Tickle, Moa, Horne out.

Whiting, Seymour and Houghton doubtful.

O Meley maybe banned.

Big advantage is your youth players are ready to step in, we are far behind, but have made very good strides this year.

Keep and eye our young winger Tom Lineham, big lad and very quick.

Ben Flower must be so frustrated because everytime he has a chance to nail a place down his hamstrings seem to play up. I'm happy enough to see Finch rested as long as it is just a niggle. We can't afford to risk anybody at this stage and I'd rather finish 2nd and go in to the play offs with a full side rather then finish first but lose a couple of players along the way.

For Friday I'd go-

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding (Thornley if Gouldings out)
Carmont
Thornley (Murphy)
Powell
Smith
Lauaki
McIlorum
Mossop
Hansen
Hock
Farrell

Subs
Crosby
Lima
Tuson
Hughes

Tough game now with these new injuries but it's still very winnable.

I think we may run like

1. Sam Tomkins
2. Josh Charnley
3. Iain Thornley
4. George Carmont
5. Anthony Gelling
6. Sam Powell
7. Matty Smith
8. Lee Mossop
9. Mike McIlorum
10. Eric Lauaki
11. Harrison Hansen
12. Gareth Hock
13. Chris Tuson

14. Jeff Lima
15. Dom Crosby
16. Liam Farrell
17. Jack Hughes

18. Logan Tomkins
19. Jack Murphy

Some of our best performances this year have come in the face of adversity. I think back to Saints on Good Friday and Leeds away when on both occasions we were without key players. Saying that we can't grumble, Ull FC have been injury ridden all year.

Looking forward to it. Should be a cracker!

The other option of course is :

1. Sam Tomkins
2. Josh Charnley
3. Jack Hughes
4. George Carmont
5. Iain Thornley
6. Sam Powell
7. Matty Smith
8. Lee Mossop
9. Mike McIlorum
10. Eric Lauaki
11. Harrison Hansen
12. Gareth Hock
13. Chris Tuson

14. Jeff Lima
15. Dom Crosby
16. Liam Farrell
17. Anthony Gelling

The George/Gelling partnership wasn't working (at the end george was choosing to cut inside rather than try to find Gelling), so I would like to see George/Thornley carry on.
Gelling on the bench can provide cover for the backs/back row.

With a few new combinations in there, it is probably a step too far for Murphy to come in on the wing and try to forge another new centre/wing relationship.

what about flower at lf?

Shaun told the weekly press conference,

"Finch is struggling so Sam Powell will get a chance, Daz is also struggling, we will monitor him but he is very doubtful. Lockers hamstring also hasn't cleared up and if he's not right I'm not prepared to risk him as it could mean 5 or 6 weeks out. Ben also has an injury and we will have to see how he goes in the next day or so."

So Flower is touch and go

Tried that for a short while in the Cas game, didn't really work, IMO.

Surely if Goulding isn't fit to play it makes sense to play a centre (i.e. not Hughes) at centre and possibly call up someone who has performed very well for the under 20's in that position. In other words, Gelling!

The other option would obviously be to play Thornley at right centre but I get the impression that he's much more comfortable playing on the left.

It's not like Hughes won't get the chance to be rewarded for his good performance for the under 20's because there's no point taking a risk on Flower so Hughes can just replace him, with Farrell or Tuson moving to loose forward.

He didn't get to do his usual minutes if I'm not mistaken because he went off injured but he looked better than Tuson in attack (in other words he actually did something).

Hughes has already been used as replacement in the centres on several (in fact 7 - 6 on the left, 1 on the right) occasions this season, and has now built up good SL experience. He also played at centre in the warm up games, so Wane obviously considers him to be of the appropriate standard and has done since January.

Thornley has only had a few games back in RL, and showed on Friday that he is still rusty (although it was nice to see him improve as the game went on, and he didnt repeat his errors. something gelling has been guilty of.) I would like to see him get more game time on the wing, rather than promote back to centre too early.

I actually thought it went ok tbh. He ran hard and punched some holes in them and defended, as ever, with good aggression. We started the game really dominant and were 16-0 in his first spell so I thought the results looked pretty good.

There is certainly an argument there for us picking him at 13 in certain games when Lockers is out. Against smaller packs Faz is your man as he'll cause them all sorts of problems in defence but against big, aggressive packs Flower may prove a shrewd option allowing us to get an extra prop in.

I really doubt Hughes' ability to put his winger in space so a no go at centre for me, I would play him off the bench at second row though. Gelling looked a real handful at centre for the academy last week, this looks like a great opportunity to show us what he can do in the first team in his natural position. If Finch is out I would have been more tempted to run with Russell at 1 and Sam at 6 Russell has impressed at full back at super league level already and Sam tore it up in the halves when he first broke into the first team. We have no idea how Powell will get on

Yeah, I know a few teams use #13 as an extra prop, I'm just not keen on the tactic myself. OK, Tuson isn't as creative as Lockers, but he's still more so than Flower.

It all depends what you need against certain sides doesn't it. In the main we're good enough and big enough to not have to bother with that option of playing an extra prop at 13 but it could come in handy at points.

I agree on Tuson by the way. I'm a fan of his and believe the only thing that holds him back is a lack of minutes. He's a very handy squad player that would start at a lot of other clubs.

i thought flower played lf before he came to us?