To be honest that's just as likely to happen to Logan or Hughes which are the other two likely options, at least Hampshire has looked good recently

Arundel came off last week with a dislocated finger and suspected broken hand. Yea man was carried from the field last week. Tickle will play, crooks and Lineham are anyone's guess.

Based on an outsiders perspective- I haven't seen how hard they train, what their attitude is etc etc

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding All pick themselves and are class backs.


God Knows. Real quality issue here. If I absolutely have to then Thornley on the basis that Hughes and Gelling are a liability.

Richards - He's spent, but purely for dropouts and goal kicks.

Green
Smith Worst halve partnering in a Wigan team since the days of Denis Moran.........but who else have we?

Mossop
McIlorum
Flower
Hansen
Farrell
O'Loughlin

Dudson
Taylor
Tuson
????? A back preferably. Maybe Powell or Hampshire? Who has been putting the most into training?

Arundal has confirmed this morning he is definatley out. He is having an operation on his fractured hand this morning. Lineham is also expected to be ruled out. Although Ben Crooks could be in for a surprise return 4 weeks early

Do you prefer Dudson to Crosby, or is that just on the basis that he's been playing recently? For me Crosby has been better than both Mossop and Dudson when he's played. I think it's a real shame that he'll probably miss out

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Gelling
Richards
Green
Smith
Taylor
McIlorum
Flower
Farrell
Hansen
O'Loughlin

Mossop
Crosby
Tuson
Hampshire

Haven't we only had 3 partnerships since then?

Barrett and Leuluai
Smith and Leuluai
S.Tomkins and Leuluai
Finch and Deacon*
Finch and Leuluai

*Leuluai at hooker, then moving to the halves when McIlorum came on for Deacon

To be honest though that's a pretty decent set of players. I don't think anyone could have expected Smith to be better than Leuluai/Deacon or Green to be better than Barrett/S.Tomkins.

Green and Smith aren't terrible, they just haven't played to the standards we have become accustomed to. Long term I can see us letting Green go at the end of his contract and letting Hampshire partner Smith with L.Tomkins or Williams coming off the bench.

I think Dudson will get the nod, and "probably" has a bit more potential (though this can change with effort etc).

I'd prefer Lauaki to Dudson, as I've mentioned before defensively he is a nightmare in that he gets left on the ground too often and the two Hull hookers (Houghton and Heremia) would target him. Of the three I would probably prefer Crosby but he doesn't yet have the same physical presence of Dudson or Lauaki. A lot depends on Laukis "state of mind"

I'm so looking forward to comparing the pre- and post-final comments on this board.

1: Sam
2: Josh
3: Goulding
4: Thornley
5: Pat
6: Green
7: Smith
8: Mossop
9: Mickey Mac
10: Flower
11: Faz
12: H
13: Lockers

14: Crosby
15: Taylor
16: Lauaki
17: Logan

Play 3 props on the bench plenty of breathers for the big guys in the warm weather thats due.

Come on the warriors

I cant believe that some people have seriously put Hampshire at Stand Off. I have seen little that makes me think he should be in the 17 never mind making his first team Stand Off debut in a Challenge Cup final.

Has Big Pat Richards pace totally gone this season?
I know he,s never been lightning but have noticed recently he seems to be totally unwilling to go outside an opposition winger.

Hull KR away this season?

Tuson did go the full length as well though carrying a chest freezer on his back!

With the current form of our half backs, I see no reason why we shouldn't have Hampshire on the bench... Imagine being a tired forward faced with the prospect of stopping BOTH Sam Tomkins and Ryan Hampshire on a pitch as wide as Wembley. As someone already stated earlier, he who dares wins. It just might work.

I'd have him on the bench as well tbh. He's had a few first team games now and I don't see the need for a back up hooker when MM can play 80 mins.

They'll have Shaul playing fullback who has 7 first team games under his belt so why not? Hampshire would give us a lot of options, especially if we're chasing the game.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that one option would be to bring on Hampshire at fullback and move Sam to stand off to mix things up a bit if it isn't going well.

If we need a plan B I don't see what we would have to lose, and as you say having those two on the pitch at the same time would be a handful for any team.

He's not been the same player since he got injured in the '10 final. He still has positives, his strength, finishing, aerial ability, defence and kicking (drop outs, goals and drop goals) are all up there with the best in SL so he's worth his spot, particularly in a final where we'll be glad of his experience. After this season is definitely the right time for him to leave though. I'm looking forward to seeing Burgess and Manfredi get their chances to shine (unless we sign someone top class like Briscoe)

The pitch at the new Wembley is apparently the same dimensions as the Halliwell Jones (according to Eddie prior to the 4N match against the Aussies anyway)

The pitch size, as lined for association football, is 115 yd (105 m) long by 75 yd (69 m) wide, slightly narrower than the old Wembley, as required by the UEFA stadium categories for a category four stadium, the top category.

The Halliwell Jones is apparently 120 x 74 yards

Should the 19 man squad be announced today?

yes


but changes to the squad will probably happen before Saturday 3pm

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Thornley
Richards
Green
Smith
Mossop
MM
Flower
Hansen
Farrell
O,loughlin

Crosby
Taylor
L Tomkins
Luaki