It was Friday when I asked him, so he is/was hoping to be back for the Leeds game

Gildart, Sutton and Faz back for Leeds. Lockers for Saints.

Maybe Burgess as well.

Sam and Mcilorum still a month away.

Think as soon as Lockers went off we knew he be back for Saints.

Will play against Saints miss Wakefield then wont play Challenge Cup Quarter Final

Difficult to argue against this, even if you are wrong about Matty Smith

Id take Farrell before Bateman 10 times out of 10.
After Williams he is the best rugby player we have at the moment because SOL only plays less than 50% of games and unfortunately ST plays even less than that.
An 80 minute full on rugby player.
If he can stay clear of injuries he wouldn't be a bad bet for MOS

I've said previously I think Farrell is our best player. His consistency is astonishing and he just does the same things week in week out. He eats up the metres, makes breaks, scores try's, sets them up and defensively he's outstanding.

He's been wasted by England imo. Playing the guy for 30 minutes isn't going to do anything. He's proven against Cronulla and against Brisbane twice (as well as in finals, semi's and derbies over here) that you wind him up and let him go for 80 minutes. He will do what he always does and give you 80 minutes of high intensity, quality rugby league.

Press conference today- Mcilorum back for next week or Good Friday.

Bad news on Sam - may need plate taking out of his foot which would mean another 6 to 8 weeks out.

What a waist of cap money ???

Wouldn't it be nice to have a full squad to choose from just to see what Wane's first choice team is capable of.
Just for fun I wouldn't mind seeing this line up.
Escare
Manfredi
Gildart
Gelling
Burgess
Tomkins S
Williams
Flower
Leuluai
FPN
Farrell
Bateman
O'Loughlin

Clubb
Tautai
Tomkins J
Powell

Tough on quite a few players but for sheer attacking value I'd like to see that side.

Are you saying that when players get injured they shouldn't get paid?
It's easy with hindsight to say that he is a waste of cap space, but hands up anyone who didn't want Wigan to sign him from NZW and full marks for being able to look into the future.

Wasn't this the reason Micky Mac was delayed? Having the plate removed?

Yes you're right.

Do your conditioning staff have any say on which boots players can wear? I only ask because some clubs now put some re-occurring lower limb strains down to some of the modern foot wear and won't allow certain types.

Surely we can't throw McIlorum straight back into a Good Friday derby. Play him off the bench against Wakey on Easter Monday.

we might have to......at the rate we are going with them dropping like flies we might not have 17 players available

What a ridiculous comment! He's a human being and he's injured. I'm sure he'd rather be fit and play than go through the crap 2 years he's had!

Not a single thought for the lad's welfare at all. I hope you never end up off work with a really serious injury! Especially if people don't want you to get paid when you're off! Some great supporters at our club!!

Let's just hope they get him right. It's frustrating for everyone but I'd rather him get sorted now and be back in good shape then him come back then feel discomfort and then be out again.

It must be hard for him and it's clearly not ideal for us but Sam Tomkins still has credit in the bank with us as far as I'm concerned. I'm willing to show some patience in at back for the entertainment he's provided me with over the years (the backwards running in front of the Saints fans at Langtree Park in 2012 has earned him a few months on its own).

Spot on.
The face of the saints fan giving him the "fingers" is priceless.
I just wish Hock had done something similar after he sidestepped fatty Wellens at the magic weekend.

I am not saying a player should not get paid when injured, just think it was a bad investment when they signed him when injured at NZW it could turn out that he may never play again and I hope not.

How would you have reacted if we had allowed him to sign for Warrington or Saints or Leeds? Like the rest of us, I bet you'd have gone bonkers!

It's a setback but rather 6-8 weeks than 6-8 months.

Let's get him fit and good to go. If we can get the majority of the injuries back in the meantime would be a bonus. Still confident we can not only compete this season but retain the main prize in October.

There's a difference between wages and cap money, though. Of course he should be fully paid , but I do believe there should be some allowance within the salary cap rules to allow some sort of discount for long-term injured players.

It was always going to be an issue when any marquee player got injured for a long time instead of faffing around with this the RFL should have just raised the cap in my opinion.