Just after I posted the first time around, I got a notification on my phone from twitter saying that Fifita had replaced MCB in the 19 man squad. Whether he will play or not is another matter, it all seems a little strange being that he is supposed to be out for 4/5 weeks.

Is it possible that Mitch Clark could play tonight

Looking at our team I wouldn’t expect a resounding victory when you compare it to Wakefield’s team. That being said I do think we will still win.

Most exciting for me is the debut of Ethan Havard. I’ve never seen him play personally so I can’t comment on his ability or potential but from what I’ve read and heard he is a superb player with huge promise.

Havard, Smithies, Partington and Smith look like they’re going to be pivotal for us in 3-5yrs time.

I’m not too impressed that Sammut is in but equally I realise there’s not much choice.

I can’t help but feel that if we are going to make the play offs, which given our start and current injury status will be a minor miracle in itself, that it is imperative we get the win tonight.

Jeez, going off this start I’ll be made to look a little silly come full time!

Wakefield look like they can’t be bothered whilst GW and Powell are having a field day.

Liam Farrell is our best player by a good way for me.

By an absolute country mile. Everyone went well tonight IMO. I just wish we’d have turned up like this v Saints.

Take this now into the Hull game

Yes far exceeded my expectations tonight. I was hoping that we might squeak out a win but I never imagined we'd get there by that margin.

If we're to finish 3rd and have an outside chance of winning it we have to beat Hull in a fortnight. Biggest game of the SL season for us by far.

Great win for us tonight, thought Sammut ran the show in the middle which gave us direction and took some pressure off Williams.

Farrell was class great to have him back. Powell is playing like he's been given a new lease of life. Sarginson, Hankinson & Isa solid again and big wraps to the young lads in the forwards who bettered a bigger pack tonight.

Cant fault any of them. Yet again whilst we all whinge about Fifita I'd have him in our team tomorrow (been saying this for the last five years), he would be unstoppable with better players around him.

Same, as you may be able to tell from earlier posts! Wakefield just didn’t show up and we were ruthless in attack and defence. The proof in the pudding is only missing 1 tackle in the first half and only 8 overall and making over 600 more metres in attack. We fell off a bit in the 2nd half but realistically we were never in danger of losing after running up a 34-0 margin so that can be forgiven easily.

I agree re Hull also, it’s a huge game for us and for me, similar to the Saints game, a major statement-making game. To finish in the play offs after the start is an achievement, to finish 3rd with a very real shot at making Old Trafford and a Grand Final win would almost certainly trump the Leeds win from 5th in my own very biased opinion.

When I looked at the age of our pack I thought Farrell and Isa have to have big games tonight for us to have a chance and they both did.

We went full throttle from the off and they were unable to cope. They responded in the second and we switched off a bit but very pleased overall.

I’ve watched us a lot of times this year and felt the bounce of the ball was against us, it was quite nice to see the reverse of that for a change.

2 weeks rest & bring on Hull.

must be the worst wigan team ever,wont even win the sky second best egg cup in Manchester.

.... and still miles better than Hull FC.

We can’t be anything but happy with that. Good performances from Hardaker, Williams, Sammut, Navarette, Isa and Smithies (amongst others) for me and an absolute master class by the most underrated player in world rugby league in Liam Farrell.

Players back on board for Hull and things are looking up.

We have two weeks' rest before we play Hull, whilst they have to face Leeds on Sunday and Warrington on the Sunday after.

Great performance all be it against a team very low on confidence and clearly carrying players with injury, but take nothing away from our lads.

The youngsters were fantastic. Really ripped in.

Farrell was outstanding, the lines he runs are very intelligent and provides genuine threat every time he is close to the line.

Williams is showing his talent again now and it’s no coincidence the whole team has improved around him.

One player I’ve been particularly underwhelmed by is Hardaker, but he really is starting to show what all the fuss is about lately, great again last night.

I think talk of finals and outside chances of trophies is a little optimistic, however, we as a team are clearly moving in the right direction and developing an identity under Lam.

Going to enjoy the rest of this year with one eye on 2020 too where I think we will be back pushing hard on all fronts for titles.

I was worried about the pack , but the intensity showed by the pack was the best Ive seen all year, a lot of second efforts at tackles no quit. Navarette has been good in the last two home games. Farrell is all class. Sammut took on the line and offered another threat. Points difference getting a boost.

Bilko nailed it on Twitter “ Whatever will be will be this season but seeing Smithies, Partington, Byrne & Havard muscling up in the middle is looking money in the bank for later. Short term pain this year could be long term gain.“

We all admire saints pack but they went through some tough years blooding the young lads and look at them now

Top quality performance, not only in getting the win, but in the attitude and application shown in achieving it. One of my highlights was Byrne getting bowled over by Pauli but responding by lining him up and absolutely smashing him at the next opportunity. That's the kind of attitude that forges careers!

Great from all the young lads yesterday but I think the senior players should also take a bow. Again, their attitude and application were first class and they really stepped up to the challenge of being down on numbers. Probably unnecessary to single players out as they were, to a man, excellent but Faz, Powell and Hardaker gave near perfect performances.

Couldn't ask for more and a pleasure to watch. There now seems to be a genuine style emerging under Lam. I'll say it again; more of the same please!

Totally agree with this. There were several games against that lot where their pack was found wanting. Richards doesn't look like he'll be more than a plodder, but Knowles and Thompson are reaping the rewards.

That said, we won't have a sniff of anything this year without having at least a couple of Lockers, Flower, Bullock and Greenwood being back and somewhere near full fitness. Even then it's hard to see us overcoming Saints at present, but I think they're only a couple of injuries in the pack away from being much more beatable than they seem.

Absolutely right. There was a time this season when we weren’t sure what we’d have to show for this season, other than maybe steering clear of relegation but we’re now not in a bad spot and regardless of how it all ends there’s a number of young lads who’ve come in to the team and shown just how much talent there is sitting in the academy at the moment. A lot are very young in forward terms but with the new reserve system in place for 2020 we really are in a good spot going forward.

Very impressed with the young lads. Harvard and Byrne can mix it in the middle. I am not sure that Partington will be at his best mixing it with the big middles and might benefit from running slightly wider. My big concern is Smithies who is doing a fine job deputising for SOL but has a build more like Bateman and may be more effective further out.

I thought Isa had a good first half in fact one his best games overall for us. Wouldn't drop Isa when Greenwood gets back and for me Smithies currently is a better bet than Greenwood therefore, Greenwood probably would struggle to even get a bench place when all our forwards are back.

Hopefully we never have to see Faz playing on the right again as he is clearly by a country mile our best 2nd rower on the left hand side.

I think this quote from Adrian Lam answers your question:

“Lockers has played more than many people realise, until a week or two ago he was top-four for minutes on the field,” he said.

We should continue with Faz and Isa (who's also in decent form) as starting second rowers and bring Greenwood off the bench for O'Loughlin. Maybe move Faz to 13 for a spell.

“Lockers has played more than many people realise, until a week or two ago he was top-four for minutes on the field,” he said.