If we play like we did on Friday - we'll come pretty close.

Leeds won't play anywhere near as terribly as Hull though.

Were Hull bad or were we good?

I think that we never get any credit were it's due, even from our own fans. Before the game I thought this was 50/50 and afterwards was really proud of the way our lads played.

SW said it was the best performance of the season - and I agree.

Maybe Leeds won't be as bad as Hull, but they lost to Saints second string, so why couldn't we beat them?

Hopefully Bowen, Farrell, Flower, Pettybourne and, most importantly, Lockers are all back for Saturday. Charnley would be a bonus but it's probably more of a risk to throw him straight back in against Leeds. We need to match them in the forwards, and with Clubb and Sutton now missing I think we're going to need at least 3 of the forwards mentioned above back to have any chance of that.

Going off the 15 min highlights on Wigan TV it was a combination of both. We were good, especially considering the players we had out but Hull were also awful. Some of their defending was inexcusable. I think we have enough to give them a game but I don't think we'll win.

It's been said there are a few on the brink of returning. I hope we aren't bringing anyone back too early and risking further injury. At this stage of the season I'd rather play the kids and ensure we have as many fit as possible for the cup.

We do need as many forwards back as we can get.
A couple of things may help our cause though.
We can avoid kicking to Ryan Hall on the 6th tackle. He's one of the best kick returners in SL, so why on earth kick in his direction?
At Headingly we got the one penalty awarded to us in the whole game, as Leeds are away from home the refs won't be under the same pressure not to penalise their infringements.
The press conf tomorrow I presume, so SW may give some indication of who's playing and who isn't.

Two good points there about-

a) why were we so insistent on going to Hall? You can say if not Hall then who I suppose as their backline is threatening all over but Hall is error free. Get it to Briscoe who comes up with a few errors and can be physically dominated more easily. The main thing to remember though regardless of who we kick to is to kick well! The bombs we put up at Headingley were terrible! No height or direction to them.

And

b) The chances of getting penalties at the Etihad in comparison to Headingley are much improved. It's embarrassing how much Leeds get away with at home with the South Stand along with Peacock and Sir Kev reffing most games. We need to keep our discipline and pressure their defence with quicker play the balls.

That's really funny NK
Of course the southstand dominate the refs and they are too scared to give away teams any penalties.
Unlike your own players who take their opponents heads off and get hefty bans, oh wait a minute!!
Come off it I do believe you have got your fair share of dodgy decisions from referee's over the years be it on your own ground or in cup games.

It's testament to our side and squad depth that with all of the injuries we could possibly line up like:
1. Sarginson 2. Manfredi 3. Goulding 4. Gelling 5. Burgess 6. Green 7. Smith 8. Taylor 9. Williams 10. Dudson 11. Hughes 12. Bateman 13. McIlorum Subs 14. James 15. Crosby 16. C. Farrell 17. Powell. We may not win the game but we will be very competitive which is all we can ask for at the minute

Second part is absolutely laughable given some of the decisions you've got over the last few years

Indeed and victories aren't the be all and end all at the moment.

The experience some of those lads are gaining is invaluable.

We are really down to the bare bones. From the sky sports app

Liam Farrell, Matty Bowen, Josh Charnley, Iain Thornley, Ben Flower, Eddie Pettybourne and Ryan Hampshire, who all missed last Friday's 44-16 win at Hull, are unlikely to return and they have been joined on the injury list by Tony Club, who will be out for four to five weeks with a knee injury, and Ryan Sutton, who was concussed at the KC Stadium.

This is from an interview where SOL is expressing his frustration that he won't be fit either.

I wonder if we would've recalled Logan Tomkins by now if his loan hadn't been extended?

Still nowhere to really fit him in though. I'd be more inclined to try and get Greenwood back from the Broncos.

Lockers is out according to Sky Sports

Hopefully it's incorrect but if not our line up must surely feature a debutant or two.

Something like-

Sarginson
Manfredi
Goulding
Gelling
Burgess
Green
Smith
Taylor
Williams
Dudson
Bateman
Hughes
McIlorum

Subs
James
Crosby
C Farrell
Powell

Still a fair side and an exciting team to watch. I wouldn't be surprised to see somebody like Sam Powell pack down at 13. He's a tough lad and wouldn't let us down.

Bloody hell! I'd go:

FB 23 Sarginson (I'm not confident in him defensively but he can always swap with Budgie if he's having a mare)
RW 31 Manfredi
RC 3 Goulding
LC 5 Gelling
LW 32 Burgess
SO 6 Green
SH 7 Smith
P 8 Taylor
H 27 Williams
P 16 Dudson
SR 25 Bateman
SR 14 Hughes
LF 9 McIlorum (think he finished the Hull game at loose)

S 17 Crosby
S 19 Powell
S 28 James
S 36 C.Farrell (not ideal giving him a debut v Leeds but we don't have many options)

A stronger team than what we will have this weekend got torn apart by Leeds a couple of weeks ago, it could be worse this time around. I just hope we are competitive. One things for sure the fans need to do their part on Saturday.

How do you define"torn apart"? It was hardly 75-0

Add to that - we only got one penalty at Leeds. On a neutral ground the ref won't be swayed by home support. Yes, we may well lose the game (which in the context of the season is pretty meaningless) but we will be competetive, no danger of that not being the case.

We have never been torn apart by anyone in the past 5 seasons. And after Friday's performance there will be lots of confidence from those young lads. Keep the faith!

I would go with that too. Really excited to see how our young lads do and it is a testament to our club that we can field such a competitive side with 10 players missing. Saints kids did it earlier on this year...

Looks like a C Farrell or Rob Lever are going to have to make their debut to cover SR.

LF is an interesting one with Lockers, Clubb, Flower and Faz all major doubts. McIlorum could go there as suggested to keep some creativity, Bateman could go there but that would mean one of the young SR debutants would have to start and play big minutes against Leeds' pack. An alternative could be to use Crosby there as a 3rd prop and have Ben Austin on the bench. We'd lose the pivot from LF but would be solid defensively. I imagine SWs having a few headaches this week!

He played more than half of the game at LF

Interesting one who to select if Wane is going to give a debut. Farrell is a second row, Lever can cover both second row and loose forward and Austin is a prop forward. I think whoever is selected they will slot into the Wigan's system as we've seen already with other young players making their debuts this season!

What annoys me most is that Leeds are not square at every play the ball. The first marker is almost square but the second marker puts his hand on the back of the first marker and stands to one side. They were penalised once, in the 37th minute, against Cas and Cas scored from it. Can't believe the refs don't notice.

Can you point out where and when other penalties should have been given, and how the crowd swayed the refereeing exactly? It was just that from watching the game it seemed that Wigan could have been penalised a hell of a lot more than they were.



Yes, you're right, that happens at every single play the ball that ever occurs against Leeds, and it's only Leeds that are ever guilty of it. It's certainly much more annoying than the three occasions in the opening 20 minutes of Leeds v Wigan that Wigan players lifted Rhinos legs above the horizontal and it went unpunished, and the unpunished high shots, and all the messing around on the ground you were allowed to get away with. Occasionally not standing square is much more annoying than all of the stuff that Wigan got away with.